Top Shelf Silvestri: The HMV recordings, Part One
This week, we begin our ongoing exploration of the recorded legacy of the incredibly gifted Romanian conductor, composer, and pianist, Constantin Silvestri (1913-1969). We will examine some of his more sought after original pressings on His Master's Voice (HMV) as well as several more affordable, yet excellent, reissues.
Before we begin, I'd like to share a few interesting points about Silvestri's early life:
- Constantin Silvestri (known as "Costi" to his family and friends) was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1913 and was raised primarily by his mother as an only child. He learned how to play the piano and organ before the age of six and first performed publicly on the piano when he was 10. He was a gifted improviser and was known to harmonize and invent variations off of melodies handed to him on small pieces of paper.
- Silvestri studied first at the Târgu Mureș Conservatoire and then at the Bucharest Conservatoire, where his teachers included the renowned Florica Musicescu (piano) and Mihail Jora (composition). Among his classmates was the pianist, Dinu Lipatti, who was four years his junior.
- Although he was not formally trained in conducting, he began to appear as a conductor in his teens. In 1930, he made his conducting debut with the Bucharest Radio Symphony Orchestra in a concert that included Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Spurred by this success, he decided to pursue a career as a conductor.
- Beginning in 1935, he conducted at the Romanian National Opera and, at the age of 32, he was as George Georgescu's successor as Principal Conductor of the Bucharest Philharmonic, a position he held for six years. He taught at the Bucharest Conservatoire from 1948 to 1956, where he founded the conducting department.
HMV ASD 400
Prokofiev: "Love for Three Oranges" Suite, Op. 33a
Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol
Khachaturian: "Gayaneh" Ballet Excerpts
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Constantin Silvestri, conductor
Matrix numbers: 2YEA 423-4 / 424-3
Released in 1961, this disc is one of Silvestri's rarest recordings for HMV. It was only ever released in its original white and gold label first pressing as well as an accompanying version in mono (ALP 1818). The last time I checked, Popsike reported its median and maximum prices at $196 and $556, respectively.
With a program packed with some of my favorite Russian and Armenian orchestral showpieces, this album had the potential to be a masterpiece. The Love for Three Oranges Suite is perhaps my favorite Prokofiev composition. I can still remember the first time I was introduced to the March movement: it was on an elementary school field trip to Orchestra Hall in the late 1980s to hear the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform a children's concert. At the end of the afternoon, they gave a cassette tape of the program to one student from each class, and I was the lucky one from mine. The March got plenty of play on my stereo boombox. I've mentioned before in a previous post that Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol has been one of my favorite orchestral pieces ever since we had a chance to play it in the student orchestra in high school and university. Finally, who doesn't enjoy Khachaturian's Sabre Dance?
The Vienna Philharmonic under Silvestri's direction gives enjoyable performances of all three works. Silvestri takes a couple of liberties with tempo and rubato in the Capriccio Espagnol, but overall, these are unmannered interpretations. As far as sound quality is concerned, the orchestra is presented with good clarity and staging, and there is plenty of low end. Where it falls just short, in my opinion, is that the sound doesn't quite have the visceral impact and brilliance that really benefits this repertoire. In addition, the balance seems to favor the winds and brass at the expense of the strings. When I compared the Prokofiev on this album with that on Dorati's superb Mercury recording with the London Symphony Orchestra (SR 90006), you could really hear a difference. The Mercury was considerably more vibrant, spacious, and dynamic. Similarly, with the Capriccio Espagnol, I found myself preferring the more robust sound of the recordings from Cluytens and the Philharmonia (Columbia SAX 2355), Pretre and the Royal Philharmonic (HMV ASD 509), and Dorati and the London Symphony Orchestra (Mercury SR 90265).
Here are two samples from my copy of the recording:
The opening of Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges
Khachaturian's Sabre Dance
Interestingly, critics of the time were mixed, and perhaps this is why the record had a short run:
- In The Stereo Record Guide, Vol. 3, the reviewers gave it a single * (out of three), and I quote: "The performances on ASD 400 are good if not spectacularly so, but the recording's upper range is restricted and does not show off this kind of music at its best."
- According to the EMG Monthly Letter, "All this music relies upon spirited performance and brilliant recording to make its full effect; Silvestri produces good playing from the Vienna orchestra but the result is never inspired. It must be admitted that he is encumbered somewhat by the often coarse and unrevealing quality of the recording, especially in stereo which never, to our ears, reaches an acceptable standard. With a catalogue richly endowed with excellent versions of the Prokofief and Rimsky-Korsakof pieces, these new versions will not do. The Sabre Dance (at the beginning of side 2) gets the best recording, but this hardly justifies a recommendation of the issue as a whole."
- Roger Fiske in The Gramophone (July, Sept 1961) was more positive: "This is an outstandingly vivid recording of some extremely vivid music (the Khatchaturian and Prokofiev Suites), and the Vienna Philharmonic sound as though they thoroughly enjoyed their excursion into what, to them, must be largely unfamiliar territory. This is just the sort of music that profits from top-grade stereo treatment ... the quality is splendid ... Silvestri has inspired the Vienna Philharmonic to give splendidly vital performances."
If these mixed reviews put you on the fence, I recommend checking out the 1977 Classics for Pleasure (CFP 40262) or the 1978 Quintessence (PMC-7070; see below) reissues prior to investing in this one.
La Voix de Son Maitre ASDF 635
Trois Rapsodies Pour Orchestre (Rhapsodies for Orchestra)
Enesco: Rapsodie Roumaine No. 1, Op. 11
Liszt: Rapsodie Hongroise No. 2
Ravel: Rapsodie Espagnole
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Constantin Silvestri, conductor
Matrix numbers: 2YVH 5-1 M6 219920 / 6-3 M6 218550
This is the French pressing of UK ASD 417, another one of Silvestri's extremely rare stereo HMV recordings. I've seen this ASD nicknamed one of the classical "Holy Grail" albums, with prices on Ebay fetching as much as over $1000 dollars (there are two copies currently listed on Discogs for sale, both for over $600 USD). The French ASDF is also rare but can be found for a quite bit less than the UK pressing. My copy, ASDF 635, is actually the second issue, the first being ASDF 162. Like the original, it features a thick cardboard cover (with the same cover art as the UK release) and a wooden dowel rod spine.
Enesco's Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 and Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 on side one are performed with zeal and humor. There are multiple references to the Enesco in John Gritten's 1998 biography of Silvestri, indicating that it was one of the conductor's popular encores. A quote from Raymond Carpenter, the principal clarinetist of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (which Silvestri directed as Principal Conductor from 1961 to 1968), reads as follows:
"'But when we had finished this performance everybody in the hall stood up, including the critics. They wouldn't let us go until we'd done an encore, so the Maestro [Silvestri] plunged into Enesco's Romanian Rhapsody No. 1. That really brought the house down and they actually had to fetch the orchestra off because we were on our feet up and down, up and down. Otherwise we would have been doing that all night.'"
Ravel's Rapsodie Espagnole is also given a colorful performance, although competition here is fierce from contemporary peers, including Cluytens, Paray, Reiner, and Munch. Silvestri appears to have had a special connection with this work as well. From Roger Winfield, the principal oboist of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (as quoted in Britten's biography):
"'Eight years before I knew Silvestri, I had had the opportunity of going on an American tour with Karajan and the Philharmonia - the greatest orchestra in the world in the Fifties - and had also been playing for 13 years with Barbirolli and the Halle. So I knew what a fine orchestra should sound like. I knew what results Karajan could get and I was always comparing him with Barbirolli, and the Philharmonia with the Halle. As far as making a comparison is concerned, there was quite a gap between my personal experience of Karajan and Silvestri, but I remember when the BSO did Ravel's Rapsodie espagnole it sounded like magic. I had done it 15 years before with Karajan and it's probably the only time I've ever made a comparison between these two conductors. I thought: 'Where have I heard that played so beautifully before? Ah, yes! It was with Karajan with the Philharmonia.'"
The sound is gorgeous - rich, clear and transparent, expansive and atmospheric. With a somewhat more immediate presentation, staging and instrumental imaging are excellent, especially with the woodwinds and brass and percussion. Dynamics are impressive, with many powerful moments in the Enesco and Liszt as well as in the second and last movements of the Ravel, and no trace of distortion or congestion on my copy.
Here are three excerpts from my copy of the recording:
Enesco's Romanian Rhapsody No. 1
Ravel's Rapsodie Espagnole, Prélude à la Nuit
Ravel's Rapsodie Espagnole, Malagueña
In contrast with ASD 400, ASD 417 received much more favorable press:
- The Stereo Record Guide, Vol. 3 gave it two ** (out of three) and a demonstration "D": "'Rhapsodies for Orchestra' is more successful and those who like orchestral color will find that Silvestri and the engineers have combined here to give them a feast of it. The performances are polished and extrovert and if there are more subtle readings of the Ravel available, this is still very enjoyable."
- The EMG Monthly Letter comments: "The Enesco and Liszt rhapsodies are conducted by Silvestri with that peculiar wayward touch that so few Western Europeans can emulate in this kind of music. The performance of the Enesco is quite outstanding, but in both pieces the orchestra and conductor capture the fervour of the gypsy dance that is a common element. They also bring the same vigour and produce the same voluptuous sound in the Ravel where it comes as rather a novelty. This piece usually sounds more remote and far more refined, and some listeners may not care for some of Silvestri's 'original' ideas on the music; also the orchestra gives an occasional impression that it is not au fait with the interpretation. However this is indeed a brilliant and exciting presentation that deserves to be heard. The recording tends to be a little forward and there is a touch of coarseness in the loud upper strings in the mono. The stereo has very wide spread and some impressive lower register quality. We recommend these records to all but those who require more authentic Ravel."
- From Jeremy Noble of The Gramophone (June 1961): "This performance [of the Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1] has a spontaneous swagger to it that is really most attractive. One feels that Silvestri's delight in orchestral colour is entirely at the service of the music's natural idiom, and of course, this new record enables one, even more than the Supraphon, to judge just what a master of orchestral colour he is ... [In the] Ravel Silvestri draws a more virtuosic performance from the Vienna than he did from the Czech Philharmonic on another earlier Supraphon disc ... first rate as sheer sound."
For the bargain collector, there is a corresponding 1966 Australian World Record Club reissue that is worth seeking.
World Record Club (Australian)
Matrix numbers: 2YVH 5-1 / 6-3
You'll be pleased to know that the Australian WRC, with similar matrix numbers, sounds every bit as outstanding as the French ASDF and represents an excellent acquisition for the bargain collector! If only its cover, which I personally find a little eerie, shared the attractive artwork of the original.
IS THE WHOLE GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS?
Back in March, I reviewed another Quintessence "Stereo Sound Spectacular" (PMC 7067, a reissue of Columbia SAX 2327) and was quite impressed with its sound quality, especially given its very affordable price. Well, it turns out that Quintessence also remastered and reissued parts of both of the above Silvestri recordings (PMC 7070), combining the Prokofiev and Khachaturian works of ASD 400 with the Enesco and Ravel from ASD 417. So, in essence, you get half of two highly collectible HMV recordings on one single record!
Good news. There's nothing "budget" about the sound quality of this reissue. Unless you have to have the Capriccio Espagnol or the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, this Quintessence captures the best of both records for a tiny fraction of the price of the originals.
For more discussions about Silvestri's HMV recordings and their reissues on this blog, please feel free to check out these links:
- Gritten, John. Constantin Silvestri: A Musician Before His Time. Warwick Editions, 1998.
- Morgan, Kenneth. From Bucharest to Bournemouth. Classic Record Collector, Winter 2009, Vol 59, 16-22.
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