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GEORGE ENESCU’S “CARILLON NOCTURNE”
A BELL-OGRAPHY
by Robert F. Reigle
2020-11-15


Photo source:  https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/composing-for-carillon/

In 1916, George Enescu (1881-1955) composed an extraordinary sonic x-ray of bell sounds.  The last of the seven “Pieces impromptues” that make up his Suite No. 3 for piano, “Carillon Nocturne” constitutes a breakthrough for piano technique and a milestone in the development of timbre consciousness (“spectral music”).  

Suite No. 3, Op. 18 (Pièces impromptues)
No. 1, Mélodie     
No. 2, Voix de la Steppe     
No. 3, Mazurka Mélancolique     
No. 4, Burlesque     
No. 5, Appassionato     
No. 6, Choral     
No. 7, Carillon Nocturne     

With complex timbres changing over the course of their sustained sounding, bells have fascinated listeners since their invention.  Despite enormous advances following the advent of computers, timbre and its complex psychoacoustic effects are still not well understood, and so those instruments of effervescent timbres par excellence - bells and gongs - retain their mystical force upon us today.  

Landmarks along the history of bell experience include the 64 double-pitched bronze bells made in 433 B.C.E. (unearthed in 1978) for the Marquis Yi of Zeng, China; the extraordinary craftsmanship required to make bells for religious purposes (unforgettably portrayed in the last episode of Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Andrei Rublov); the gongs of China and southeast Asia; compositions by modern composers such as Dane Rudhyar, Giacinto Scelsi (String Quartet No. 1), Jonathan Harvey (“Moruos plango, vivos voco”), and James Tenney (“Having Never Written a Note for Percussion”); and a vast number of imitations, either evocative or realistic, on keyboard instruments at least since the Renaissance.  Composers of the latter include William Byrd (“The Bells”), Franz Liszt (“Die Glocken von Genf”), and Claude Debussy (“Cloches a travers les feuilles”).

It was Enescu, though, who figured out how to create more realistic bell timbres on the piano, by specifying which notes of a chord should be struck more lightly than the others, in “Carillon Nocturne” of 1916.  Previously, he had evoked bells less realistically in his Suite No. 2, op. 10 “Des cloches sonores,” of 1903.  At the time of his death, Enescu thought that his Suite No. 3 had been lost; it was rediscovered in the late 1950s.  “Carillon Nocturne” seems to be enjoying a groundswell of recognition in the wake of lauds from Iancu Dumitrescu, insightful analysis by Tibor Szasz (“Secrets of Carillon Nocturne,” on YouTube, with article), and a new recording every year since 2015, on some of the finest pianos in the world.

The tempo is especially important for enhancing the play of living timbres in “Carillon Nocturne.”  Enescu calls for “moderato, non troppo lento” (moderate, not too slow), and does not indicate any metronome markings.  Also important is the type of pedals available to the pianist, with different instruments offering different types of timbral shading.  Piano manufacturers stopped including a moderator pedal in the early 20th century; that pedal softened the dynamics by inserting felt between the hammer and the three strings of a given pitch.  The soft pedal on more recent instruments, on the other hand, lowers the volume by shifting the hammer so that it strikes only two of a pitch’s three strings.  

The “bell-ography” (sessionography) below lists all of the recordings of “Carillon Nocturne” that I could find.  I indicate the piano manufacturer if known, and the timing (actual if heard, printed on the album if I could not access the recording).  Some engineers seem to fade out the recording, while others allow us to hear the pianist’s final release of the pedal.  The shortest performance is 4:53 (by Aurora Ienei), and the longest 9:41 (Daniel Ciobanu).  These recordings encompass a broad spectrum of performers, instruments, and tempi, offering kaleidoscopic illuminations of this beautiful, pioneering, and profound evening bell of the piano universe.