Thanks for the post. Never heard of Enescu--will check him out, though.
George Enescu (1881-1955) was a Rumanian who lived and worked in Paris quite often. He intergrated Romanian folk music into his pieces, just as Bela Bartok did with Hungarian folk songs.
Of a very special (difficult to grasp) beauty is the 15th string quartet by Shostakovic. It is a gloomy but serene piece written in 1975, I think. Beautiful, though.
Oh yes, Wagner's 'Wesendonk Lieder', don't forget those.