Feature article on George Enescu and Constantin Silvestri

Feature article for publication to accompany a performance by Enescu’s Symphony no. 1 Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra / Ion Marin (conductor)

22 April 2020; Lighthouse, Poole

Concert cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic

George Enescu and Constantin Silvestri: parallel lives George Enescu (1881-1955) set the mould that compatriots including conductors Sergiu Celibidache (1912-1996) and Constantin Silvestri (1913-1969), in addition to pianist Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950) would follow. Although better known as performers, they also composed, however, in Celibidache’s case, it was largely for his own amusement. If one compares George Enescu and Constantin Silvestri, in several respects it could be said that they almost lived parallel lives.

Today, visitors to the biennial George Enescu International Festival, which is centred around the capital Bucharest but with a national programme of performances, are likely to visit the city’s prestigious neo-classical concert hall, the Ateneul Român (Romanian Athenaeum), or the Romanian National Opera House. Both institutions were central to Enescu’s unswerving commitment to raising the profile of music and the performance standards that Romanian audiences enjoyed. He laid the Opera’s keystone and in 1921 conducted (in an earlier theatre) the national premiere of Wagner’s Lohengrin, in addition to establishing the National Union of Composers and the Enescu Prize for Composition. Many of Enescu’s own compositions received their national premieres under his baton at the Athenaeum. Constantin Silvestri, or Costi as he was known to his friends, was also a regular presence at those venues.

Take their compositions as a starting point. Enescu was adventurous in his exploration and mastery of forms throughout his life: from his mighty opera Oedipe, via several symphonies, various orchestral suites and tone poems, a mountain of chamber works in virtually every form imaginable, plus a wide variety of solo piano pieces. Silvestri’s compositional activity attracted early attention, winning one First Enescu Prize, two Second Prizes and a Distinction commendation. Compositions flowed sporadically, though often at speed when being written, until the age of forty, when his conducting career became his predominant concern. Silvestri organised his works in 28 opus numbers and adopted a practice like Enescu of assigning multiple works to the same opus number. Just as it surprises some that a prolific composer and eminent violinist as Enescu did not write a violin concerto (the mere thought of having to drag it around the world’s concert halls abhorred him), Silvestri’s orchestral output was remarkably thin, with the exception of the Three Pieces for Strings, op.4#2, which remains his most performed work.

Whilst Enescu’s pre-eminence as a performer was first and foremost as a violinist, he was also a sought-after pianist. The many recordings he made as accompanist to his pupil Yehudi Menuhin stand as testament to this. Silvestri’s talents as a virtuoso pianist attracted attention in Bucharest long before he turned his attention to the conductor’s podium. Indeed, accounts of his recitals abound with tales of his predilection for and prowess at improvisation. For his encores, Silvestri would frequently improvise on themes offered forth by the audience. On one occasion, he improvised on a Bucharest telephone number successively in the styles of Chopin, Cézar Franck, Debussy and a Romanian folk idiom. Enescu attended one of Silvestri’s recitals, but after the string of improvisations, he retorted, “And now, what about doing something in the style of Silvestri?” In this, one gets a real glimpse of Silvestri’s tendency to play the showman.

His penchant for flamboyance was ever-present in Silvestri’s conducting, and one need look no further than Enescu’s First Romanian Rhapsody for evidence of this. A frequently played encore, he would often signal from the wings to the clarinet to begin its quasi-improvised introduction and timed his arrival at the podium to coincide with bringing in the strings. Silvestri found its colourful orchestration offered him many opportunities to bring out qualities from the orchestras he led. Enescu showed his

respect for his compatriot by conducting the Bucharest Philharmonic in Silvestri’s orchestral Toccata in 1945. Silvestri was appointed the orchestra’s Permanent Conductor in the same year, and over the next twelve years, Silvestri made impressive conducting debuts in Budapest, London and Paris.

Silvestri was often in Parisian recording studios conducting rarities such as Paul Constantinescu’s piano concerto or repertoire standards including Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Enescu’s string Octet and wind Dectet, plus Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony. Those last two recordings were each awarded a coveted Grand Prix du Disque award by French critics.

Within the Enescu Festival’s First Edition (1958), Silvestri twice conducted Enescu’s Chamber Symphony and tirelessly prepared and conducted six performances of the first Romanian production of the opera Oedipe. Communist government officials sought to ‘correct’ the final act’s libretto from Oedipus’ mystical communion with the Divine to a consultation with the ‘people’. Ultimately, the political intrigue around Oedipe was a significant factor in Silvestri’s decision to permanently leave Romania in 1959. His strenuous opposition to the changes made to Oedipe’s libretto attracted the unwanted attentions of Romania’s feared secret service, the Securitate. They began compiling reports on "The hostile activity of Constantin Silvestri and his intention to remain abroad". They tracked his movements, first to Paris, then via Berlin and Switzerland to London. Meanwhile, in Romania, Silvestri was stripped of his “People’s Artist” title, raids took place that led to the confiscation of scores, batons, paintings and his extensive stamp collection. Other “persons undertaking dubious activities abroad” including Enescu and Celibidache were similarly treated, though Enescu was not publicly humiliated, as the authorities wished to use his name to improve their image abroad.

Enescu left Romania permanently in 1946 and settled in Paris, which had long been his second home.

The city was, and still is, a gravitational centre for the Romanian diaspora: the sculptor Constantin Brancuşi and playwright Eugène Ionesco were well known there. Enescu lived there modestly, teaching privately (pupils included Yehudi Menuhin, Ida Haendel, Christian Ferras, Arthur Grumiaux, Ivry Gitlis and Ginette Neveu), frequently performing locally or touring internationally as a violinist or conductor. Enescu’s unswerving advocacy of Romanian composers was a factor in the New York Philharmonic’s decision not to appoint him as Arturo Toscanini’s successor.

Silvestri was no stranger to London audiences, having conducted the London Philharmonic and Mussorgsky’s Khovanschina at Covent Garden, but it was as Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra that he found a professional home for the last seven years of his life. It swiftly became evident that this was a partnership of serious artistic intent destined to bare significant fruit.

On European tours they extolled English composers such as Vaughan-Williams, Britten and Malcolm Arnold, amongst others. Their recording of Elgar’s In the South remains without equal. Enescu visited these shores in his later years to conduct recordings of Bach’s B minor Mass with the Boyd Neel Orchestra and Schumann’s Second Symphony with the London Philharmonic; he also attended the recording of string quartets by Robert Simpson and Michael Tippett. Silvestri and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra brought many European and Russian masterpieces to British audiences. Enescu’s works were amongst them, including the First Orchestral Suite (performed in 1963), the Second Orchestral Suite and the First Symphony (both 1966). Some of these were first performances in the UK, all were fortunately recorded by the BBC. Silvestri’s Harp Sonata was performed at Wigmore Hall in 1965 by Spanish virtuoso Nicanor Zabaleta.

With the deaths of Enescu in 1955 and Silvestri in 1969, the world lost two remarkable artists who were made of music. Over recent years, international interest in Enescu’s compositional output has grown, whilst Silvestri’s piano writing has been promoted by artists including Anda Anastasescu and Luiza Borac. More works await widespread appreciation, including Silvestri’s and Enescu’s early settings of German poetry. Together, they will undoubtedly enrich the international song repertoire for performers and audiences alike.

Feature article © Evan Dickerson 2020