Description

GRIGORAS IONICA DINICU (BUCHAREST, ROMANIA, APRIL 3, 1889 – BUCHAREST, ROMANIA, MARCH 28, 1949)

 

 

 

 

Grigoraș Dinicu was a Romanian violin virtuoso and composer of Roma ethnicity. He is most famous for his often-played virtuoso violin showpiece “Hora staccato” (1906) and for making popular the tune Ciocârlia, composed by his grandfather Angheluș Dinicu for “nai” (the Romanian pan flute). It is rumored that Jascha Heifetz once said that Grigoraș Dinicu was the greatest violinist he had ever heard. He was born in Bucharest, in the neighborhood of the lăutari named Scaune (Chairs). Because his father was busy with his activity as a lăutar, he handed him over to “moș Zamfir”, an old violinist, who taught him the first tunes. He attended the Bucharest Conservatory, where he studied with Dumitru Georgescu-Kiriac. The most famous of his teachers was Carl Flesch, the violin pedagogue, with whom he studied in 1902. He received a scholarship at the Vienna Conservatory, but he was not allowed to go there because he was Romani, an episode that he never forgot. After graduation he played violin with the Orchestra of the Ministry of Public Instruction, and also performed as a soloist. Hora staccato dates from the beginning of this period; he wrote it as a graduation exercise. For forty years, from 1906 until 1946, he directed popular music concerts. He also toured abroad as a soloist and conductor, and he also played a great deal of light music in nightclubs, hotels, restaurants, and cafés in Bucharest and throughout Western Europe. His music is mostly for violin and piano, though some pieces (such as Hora staccato) have later been arranged for other combinations of instruments (for example, trumpet and piano, as well as violin and orchestra and a popular arrangement by Russian mandolin virtuoso Dave Apollon). He died in Bucharest of laryngeal cancer.

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Improvisation à la Dinicu și Hora de la Chițorani orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia JB 317 1939

Jalea țiganului orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia DR 1012

Kirpitchiki orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia D 31152 1929

Lady Hamilton orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia JB 317 1939

Leana mea orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu HMV JB 292 1939

Melodie, Opus 42, No. 3 pian Columbia D 30702 1929

Menuette parfum d’automne orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia D 8568 1927

Nadir orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia D 8570 1927

Petite conversation orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu HMV JB 316 1939

Plaisir d’amour (Martini) pian Columbia D 8414 H 1047 1926

Plângeri și suspine orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia D 31120 1929

Polka du concert pian Columbia D 8571 1927

Romanitza (Tango) orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Pathé N 72013 1927

Romanțe țigănești pian Columbia D 8414 1926

Săbărelul orchestra Grigoraș Dinicu Columbia D 31121 1929