MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

REVIEW


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


Buy through MusicWeb
for £16 postage paid World-wide.

Musicweb Purchase button

 

Constantin Silvestri – A Bournemouth Love Affair
CD 1 [70:33]
George ENESCU (1881-1955) Symphony No.1 [32:12]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791) The Magic Flute Overture [6:52]; Symphony No.29 in A [18:34]
Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891-1953) Symphony No.1 Classical [13:35]
CD 2 [76:13]
George ENESCU (1881-1955) First Orchestral Suite [27:38]; Second Orchestral Suite [24:16]
Constantin SILVESTRI (1913-1969) Three Pieces for Strings [10:19]
Antonin DVORÁK (1841-1904) Slavonic Dances 3-5 [15:20]
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Constantin Silvestri
rec. Colston Hall, Bristol, England, 25 November 1966 (Enescu Symphony); all other tracks: Winter Gardens, Bournemouth, England: 18 March 1963 (Prokofiev); 6 December 1963 (First Orchestral Suite); 2 June 1965 (Magic Flute); 10 November 1965 (Symphony No.29); 27 February 1966 (Second Orchestral Suite; Slavonic Dances); 16 August 1967 (Three Pieces)
NIMBUS ALLIANCE/RMA NI 6124 [70:33 + 76:13]

Experience Classicsonline

 
Search for recordings by Constantin Silvestri in the current catalogue and you will find precious few. Strip out live performances courtesy of the BBC Legends series and the list dwindles to nearly nothing. All of which makes this new pair of discs manufactured and I assume distributed by Nimbus on behalf of “Rumanian Musical Adventure” all the more welcome. The bad news first: these are all mono recordings taken from BBC broadcasts in the early to mid- 1960s. What is not made clear is whether the audio restoration engineers had access to original master tapes or if this is ‘off-air’. In engineering/technical terms quite a few of the performances are hampered by congested and distorted sound which does limit the detail perceptible in complex-textured works such as the Enescu Symphony No.1. Conversely the sound quality is significantly better for the two Mozart items allowing the performances themselves to sparkle.
 
But surely if you are considering these discs as a collector you are already more interested in the musical legacy of Silvestri than the sonic splendour in which it is portrayed. What I particularly like about these discs is the care and devotion that has gone into their production and presentation – except for the minor detail that someone compiling the track timings on the back cover forgot there are only sixty seconds in a minute! The English-only 14 page booklet includes essays on the man himself as well as extended musical notes – particularly relating to the Enescu works – and insights into these actual performances and Silvestri the conductor. The presence of the Enescu works, given Silvestri’s close association with the composer, will be the main lure for many. Not that the pieces themselves are rare in the catalogue any more – various versions being available on Chandos, EMI, Arte Nova and Marco Polo amongst others. Silvestri’s triumph is that for all the sonic limitations mentioned above his performances burn with an incandescent zealous fire that sweeps away technical reservations. Given the relative rarity of the repertoire this commitment should not surprise – but the glorious thing is how the same values – a sense of discovery and revelation – equally apply to ‘basic’ repertoire like Mozart’s Symphony No.29 or Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony. Raymond Carpenter, who was the Bournemouth Orchestra’s principal clarinettist throughout Silvestri’s tenure, does him a slight dis-service I feel in defensively saying that the Mozart will sound heavy and overly-romantic to modern ears. Not to mine. The Magic Flute Overture is a joy – full of all the life-affirming energy and elegance one could wish for. Yes, I have heard leaner and lither versions of the symphony but the spirit of Mozart is here in abundance. To my mind the essence of a composer goes deeper than simple issues of performance practice – it is the thought behind the gesture that counts. Which is why a great piece of music can weave its magic in a wide range of equally valid performance styles.
 
Later in his same note Carpenter alludes to Silvestri’s ability to ‘get under the skin’ of a composer as being one of his greatest skills. In this I am in absolute concurrence with him. Referring back to the other BBC Legends discs – the repertoire covered there is extraordinarily wide and occasionally surprising. Likewise, the studio performances that do survive in the current catalogue centre around the still market-leading In the South (EMI Classics). This performance is currently hidden away rather as a coupling for the 2 disc set of Barbirolli/Elgar Symphonies from EMI. Ever since its initial release Silvestri’s Elgar has been rightly praised for its power and volatility and ‘non-Englishness’ yet undoubtedly driving to the very heart of the essence of Elgar. If ever there was a radically different but valid vision of a work it is this. Part of the key to this success of this is that it is using ‘his’ Bournemouth orchestra who play with a virtuosity – as on these discs – which belies their provincial location. The liner points out that the kind of detail Silvestri sought and the flexibility he demanded could not be imposed on an orchestra in a couple of days flying visit. Try the final two movements of the Prokofiev symphony [CD 1 tracks 11-12]. The Gavotta always sounds disarmingly simple, almost naďve. Yet in Silvestri’s hands he coaxes all manner of subtle little nuances and articulations that lift the superficially simplistic to the realm of high art without resorting to mannerism. Then the Finale crackles with a virtuosic energy that the very finest ensembles would be proud of. Am I imagining this or is it palpably clear that the orchestra wants to play for their conductor? Interestingly this is the earliest work recorded here – a March 1963 performance just some two years after he took over as the principal conductor. Don’t get me wrong – there are other performances of greater purely technical perfection but the spirit – ah that word again – here seems so right.
 
The bulk of the second disc is dedicated to the first two Enescu Orchestral Suites. The opening movement of No.1 could be taken as a model of the type of fluent flexibility Silvestri sought. Titled Prélude ŕ l’unisson it is quite unlike any other orchestral piece in that, just as the title suggests, the instruments all play the same musical line together – excepting a timp pedal roll – monophonic music in its most literal sense. The only way this six and a half minute movement works is by total unanimity yet total fluidity – any sense of barlines or predictable beat has to be lost. Silvestri and his Bournemouth strings achieve this superbly. I’m not sure I have heard this movement more convincingly played. Again the sound is rather limited – Carpenter makes the point that the microphones used for BBC regional broadcasts cost a fraction of those used by EMI for studio recordings of the same era – but the ear soon forgets that. The liner-notes for these works are provided by Pascal Bentoiu who is a Romanian composer who has specialized in completing and analyzing Enescu’s works. I would have to agree with him that the three movements that follow this prelude although interesting enough – and well played here with a gorgeous sweet violin solo in the Menuet Lent for instance [CD 2 track 2 5:20] – are less challenging as music. This second movement is by some way the longest of the four in the Suite and it weaves a beautiful spell of serene calm. Throughout, a striking feature is the chamber-music like freedom the orchestra achieves – something only made possible if the players trust and follow the stick unwaveringly. If musicians don’t have faith in their conductor they will accommodate potential vagaries of the pulse by playing ever later or behind the beat something which by definition irons out any subtle ebbs and flows in the tempo that the conductor might intend. After the profundity of the earlier movements the closing Vif does seem to bluster in comparison. Being the loudest and texturally thickest movement it is also the one where sonic limitations are most apparent. Overall a remarkable work for 1902. Another thirteen years were to pass before Enescu returned to the Orchestral Suite as a musical form. Enescu borrows titles from a baroque suite but as Bentoiu points out this is more to give him an overall structure to the suite rather being an excuse for faux-baroque music. This Silvestri performance dates from some three years after the first suite but oddly has worse sound. This does limit the impact of the complex polyphony of the outer movements. Again the simpler movements – track 6 Sarabande and track 9 Air fare much better underlining the superb ensemble the orchestra achieved and the beautiful balancing of the various lines, wind soloists emerging from the texture in a way that you know has more to do with skillful balancing from the stage rather than the engineer’s mixing desk. I am not as certain as Bentoiu that this is such a masterpiece but again a joy to hear when as convincingly performed as here.
 
The most unexpected work on these discs is from Silvestri’s own pen – another conductor all but forgotten as a composer. These are his Three Pieces for Strings and quite a find they prove to be. Really demanding of the players, the virtuosity level is high but again allied to a rhythmic fluidity that only extended rehearsal can bring. For someone who does not seem to have learnt a stringed instrument as a major study he has an intuitive understanding of what will ‘work’. OK so this is not the most original piece you will ever hear but the fusion of central European passion and energy with a strand of more intimate lyricism – the central movement Cantabile [track 12] is a real winner – makes for an instantly appealing work. And what a fantastic finale – you could imagine this movement being used by modern day virtuoso ensembles such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra – as a guaranteed storming encore. If proof were ever needed about just how good the BSO became under Silvestri listen to this movement alone. The discs close with their own encore in the shape of three Dvorak Slavonic Dances. Murky recording rather diminishes the pleasure and curiously Silvestri does not make as much of the dramatic tempo shifts as some – I would have imagined him teasing out every little rubato with glee. In fact these are quite ‘straight’ performances. Obviously this is still fine playing and music-making here but not on the same exalted level as elsewhere on these discs to my ear. The lasting conclusion from these discs is what an exciting time it must have been to play in the orchestra as well as attend concerts as an audience member. Much is made – quite rightly – about the high standards of orchestral playing today but this highlights a glorious past too. If by any chance collectors reading this have not acquired Silvestri’s In the South I would go as far as saying that performance is truly one of the ‘recordings of the century’ both as a performance and a document of a great artist’s legacy and a compulsory purchase for any dedicated collector.. Thanks once again to Nimbus for widening our depth and appreciation of this great conductor’s work yet further and a worthy tribute to all. Recently, in a review of a brand new recording I said hurray for the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and I repeat that here for the 1960s ensemble.
 
Nick Barnard
 

And a further review – from Rob Barnett
 
This is inevitably a specialist project given the far from sophisticated 1960s radio tape sound. That said, it would be more than a pity if its audience was restricted to BSO specialists.
 
Silvestri is here heard in three works by his countryman, Enescu. It's a delight to hear him in the exuberant First Symphony. The blood-rush of the first movement has not communicated as strongly and tirelessly since Rozhdestvensky's 1960s recording of the same work with the Moscow RSO. The sound is unsophisticated and bristly with some distortion in those whooping climaxes. It's remarkable that the composer wrote this toweringly confident work between the ages of 14 and 17. Give it a chance but be careful about basing your impressions on any versions other than Silvestri's or Rozhdestvensky’s if you could find it and transfer it from that Melodiya LP. The music is like a volcanic reaction produced by mixing Brahms, Mahler, Walter (try his first symphony on CPO with Botstein), Richard Strauss and early Szymanowski (the Concert Overture). It would be a boring work if it was all pitched at that racing pulse but in fact the music also finds time to dance delicately. The liner-note writer and composer Pascal Bentoiu (when will we hear his music I wonder?) points out that the symphony was dedicated to Casella who in turn dedicated his own Second Symphony to Enescu. This is glorious music-making of a type that demands utter absorption from conductors and orchestras to make the sort of impact that it commands here.
 
The Mozart overture is done in magnificently burly big-band panoply and with Jovean aplomb. Yet when it comes to the Symphony, dynamic delicacy and sensitive pacing ensure delicious results seasoned with panache. Silvestri was evidently a great Mozartean only a little less than secure in the slow-slow-slow Menuetto. That earlier fleetness and quicksilver carries over into the supercharged Prokofiev - easily as good as Malko's 1950s version and sounding less strident and more fluent.
 
What marks out Silvestri's Enescu is evident in the First Orchestral Suite. This heartfelt work radiates a sense of tender care for dynamics. The material has an acrid Hungarian skirl and tincture especially in the middle two movements. The final Vif looks to the same boiling folkdance frenzy as the more famous Rhapsodies. The six movement Second Suite is from thirteen ears later. In it Enescu sets his not inconsiderable imagination loose on Baroque models with Handelian fugue and dance joining hands with a knowing twentieth century skill. The Sarabande is more liberatedly cantabile - cool but always emotionally warmer than anything Stravinsky produced in his much vaunted neo-classical period. The surging Bourrée suggests a mix of Lord Berners in Triumphs of Neptune mixed with the effervescent eruptive power of the Enescu First Symphony. Silvestri's own Three Pieces for Strings are tangy, harmonically dense and laden with paprika. The string writing has something of the rich string canvas of Roy Harris but is also intensely romantic and quivering with piercing regret. There’s also a touch of Valse Triste and Rakastava in there. The waspish and deckle-edged finale has a Caledonian whirl.
 
We round off in more soothing style with four of Dvorák's Slavonic Dances but Silvestri will not let them go without laying bare some exotic east European flavouring.
 
The notes, when not dealing with Enescu (that's Pascal Bentoiu's role), are by Raymond Carpenter who as principal clarinet. I saw him onstage often at the BSO concerts I attended in Bristol, Exeter and Paignton 1969-1976.
 
This set would not have existed for Nimbus without the cooperation of the BBC and the crucial support of the Romanian Musical Adventure (www.romanianmusicaladventure.org). I hope to hear more RMA-sponsored discs which open the closed doors of ignorance in relation to Romanian classical music. I wonder which other Romanian composers music we should look to see revived.
 
I hope that there will be more Silvestri from the radio archives and that sets such as the wonderful 10CD Disky set (DB707432) gathering what must surely be almost all of his EMI studio recordings.
 
Rob Barnett
 

Communication received:

Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews of "Constantin Silvestri - A Bournemouth Love Affair".

It is rare these days to see such a perceptive pair of reviews of historic recordings. Since you were curious about the source of these recordings I thought I could fill you in on a little of the story.

During the period that Silvestri was conducting in Bournemouth, the BBC would occasionally record concerts for broadcast and later play the tapes back. These tapes were reused over and over again. As far as Ray Carpenter has been able to tell, there are no existing original tapes or copies of the tapes in the BBC. The source of all Silvestri BBC broadcast recordings are from listeners who recorded the broadcasts off the radio. In this case the recordings were made by Silvestri or his wife in their home. In addition, there are a few tapes that were recorded at home by Ken Matchett, the BSO general manager, although I don't have the notes with me at the moment to know if any of these were used on the RMA discs.

Almost all of the tapes were recorded at either 1 7/8 or 3 3/4 IPS. Most suffer from a considerable amount of 50Hz power mains hum, drop-outs from mild to severe, and bursts of static or whistles, as well as leakage from adjacent stations. The original tape machines used can also be as much as half step or more sharp or flat. In addition, the transfer to the CDs that Ray provided me for the CDs suffered from being under recorded in the transfer by as much as 30dB or over recorded and digitally clipped. Then there is also the fact that the microphones used for everyday broadcasts were of very low quality and some of the halls that the BSO travelled and performed in were of dubious acoustics. Through all of this, my intention was to remove as much of the crud from the recordings as possible, return the equalizations to something resembling a live concert, and remove only as much hiss as possible with out causing any artifacts or loss of detail. It is a true shame that more of the miracle that Silvestri worked with the BSO was not recorded in better sound. Ray and I would be grateful in any help locating better recorded and preserved off-air transcriptions.

I might add that the BBC Legends releases are generally from the same set of tapes, except that they are able to have access to the physical tapes and do their own transfers as opposed to the copies that I had to work with which were done quick and "on the fly". Unfortunately BBC Legends does not bother to correct the pitch on some of their releases and some of their equalizations are not to my taste.

I came by Silvestri via the Disky 10 disc set and the EMI "In the South". Let me tell you that if you think that the EMI performance is something, you should hear one of the broadcast performances! Unfortunately with the recordings still under copyright, the payments to BBC Radio and the musicians union make it just about financially impossible to make these performances, as flawed as the sources are, available.

Sincerely,

Glen Gould
Silvestri Audio Restoration Engineer


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.