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Dvorák's life was mainly a fairly contented existence despite the upheavals of nineteenth century history taking place around him. Nowadays he is chiefly remembered internationally for his later symphonies and chamber works and the valedictory Cello Concerto which he composed, together with the famous New World Symphony and his fairy-tale opera Rusalka, towards the end of his life. The Wind Serenade dates from 1878, just two years before his sunny Sixth Symphony with which it shares many of it's qualities. The work opens with a march suggesting all the pomp of the local village bands that Dvorák knew so well. This is followed by a Minuetto, a title that betrays the homage to the rococo wind serenade and to Mozart, although the piece owes as much to a triple time Bohemian folk-dance as it does to the classical court dance A flowing Andante makes up the third movement before the Allegro molto finale rounds off the work with a return to the opening theme. The Romanian composer George Enescu was very different from Dvorák. The quintessentially Czech nature of Dvorák's music has no real parallels here; Enescu was more of an internationalist and spent most of his time as a performer rather than a composer, beconting a well known Bach specialist both as a conductor and as an acclaimed violinist. His life-span of nearly 75 years produced only 32 opus-numbered works and a handful of juvenilia. Born in 1881 in the Romanian town of Liveni Vima, he spent much of his time abroad and died in Paris in 1955. Apart from his own recordings as conductor and soloist, his most important works are his symphonies and the opera Oedipe. Although his output is small, he is still considered to be the founder of modern Romanian music. If Dvorák's Serenade reflects the elegance of the rococo genre, then it is easy to see the influence of Bach in Enescu's Dixtuor. The three movements are scored fo
