A curiosity in Enescu's output is the way that he sometimes bracketed under the same opus number works of the same genre but widely separated in time: the two Op. 24 piano sonatas of 1924 and 1935, for example (the latter in fact called No. 3, since the composer confessed that No. 2 existed only in his head and was never written down), or the more extreme case of the two Op. 26 cello sonatas of 1898 and 1935. His two string quartets, likewise, though both numbered Op. 22, were separated by over 30 years. The First (or rather the first he acknowledged, since there had been a previous Quartettsatz he had written at the age of 25) was completed in 1920 after a long gestation period of four years—partly explicable by its extreme complexity and his elaborately detailed indications on the playing of almost every note. It is a work of his full maturity, enormously demanding technically and closely argued, combining orthodox sonata form, a sophisticated late-romantic idiom and elements derived from Romanian folk-music. Though it is individual and by no means difficult on the ear, its profusion of material makes following the course of the musical thought something of a challenge, with the reflective second movement (also in sonata form, but without a development section) particularly elusive. The most remarkable part of this very large-scale (46 minutes) quartet is the fantastical scherzo, which has a certain diabolic character (and is certainly diabolically difficult to play).
The Second Quartet, composed in 1951, is a far more concise work in a much freer tonal idiom, mostly avoiding the elaborate texture which marks the earlier quartet: perhaps for that reason I find it the more memorable of the two. The core of the work is the deeply expressive slow movement, which is counterbalanced by the vitality of the folky finale. The Voces Quartet, consisting of four professors from the conservatory in Iasi (Moldavia), is a most accomplished ensemble whose playing shows understanding as well as outstanding technical assurance: the rather edgy 1980 recording does not flatter it, but its quality is nevertheless evident.'