Constantin Silvestri

Silvestri also composed over 40 orchestral, chamber and vocal works. These include Prelude and Fugue (Toccata), Sonata quasi una fantasia, Op 19, No 2 (1940), Chants Nostalgiques, Op 27, No 1 (1944), String Quartet, Op 27, No 2 (1944), Sonata for solo harp, Three Pieces for Strings, Op 4, No 2 (1933), and Romanian Dances from Transylvania, Op 4, No 1 (1930). The UK premières of the following works were given by pianist Anda Anastasescu in the Wigmore Hall, London; Piano Suite 'Children's Games' No. 2 (Op. 3 No. 2) on 14 July 2003, Sonata Op. 28 No. 1 'Rapsodia in 3 episodi' on 28 December 2004 and Sonata Op. 19 No. 2 'Quasi una fantasia' and 'Chants nostalgiques' Op. 27 No. 1 on 30 December 2005. The UK Première of Piano Suite 'Children Games' No. 1 (Op. 3 No. 1) was given by Anda Anastasescu in the Purcell Room, London, on 15 December 1999 as part of the series 'Bridging the Millenia with Four Anniversaries. Hommage to Silvestri, Shostakovich, Copland and Turina' 1999–2000. The UK Première of the Sonata for Clarinet and Piano Op. 19 No. 1 was given by Raymond Carpenter (Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Principal Clarinet) and Anda Anastasescu in the Purcell Room, South Bank Centre London, 15 December 1999. The UK Première of the 'Romanian dances from Transylvania' Op.4 No.1 (Bihor Dances) for piano 4 hands, was given by pianists Anda Anastasescu and Alberto Portugheis in Kings Place, London, on 4 July 2010. The Piano Suites Nos. 1, 2, 3 are featured in Anastasescu's film series 'CONSTANTIN SILVESTRI: Avant-gardist, Master improviser, Homme passionné' (7 episodes: Prelude, Lead soldiers, The little shepherd, Fireworks, Pictures at an exhibition, Nocturne, Bacchanalia), dedicated to the 2021 George Enescu International Festival, Bucharest. Anastasescu recorded the three piano suites for the 'Patrimoniu' archives of the Romanian National Radio in November/December 2019. On 19 March 2005, The London Schubert Players Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Hu Kun, gave the public UK Première of the 'Three pieces for strings' in the 'Classicalive Festival' in the Olympia Exhibition Centre, London. A second London performance took place in the Romanian Cultural Institute on 15 November 2005 as part of Anastasescu's festival 'A Romanian Musical Adventure' 2005-2006, the first-ever British festival of Romanian composers. The work had been previously performed on 29 April 2004 in the Romanian Embassy in London by the 'George Enescu Youth Orchestra' (the orchestra of the George Enescu Music School in Bucharest) conducted by Bogdan Voda. The concert was part of a concert tour in the UK, organised by Anda Anastasescu who is an alumna. The first commercially released CD with the ‘Three Pieces for Strings’ (‘A World of Music with the London Schubert Players’) produced by Cressidia Classics in the UK in 1996 was recorded in 1990 in Bucharest’s Athenaeum concert hall by the Romanian record company ‘Electrecord’.

In Romania and Eastern Europe, before moving to the West, Silvestri made around 20 LPs, often of repertoire he did not subsequently re-record. Recordings for which he is particularly well known include Edward Elgar's Overture In the South (Alassio), and Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony. His recordings received a First Prize from the Académie Charles Cros (for Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No.9, "From the New World") and the Grand Prix du Disque (for George Enescu's Dixtuor for Winds). Silvestri conducted and recorded with many of the world's leading orchestras, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Concertgebouw, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Suisse Romande, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to commercial recordings, the BBC Legends label has issued six CDs of radio performances from the 1960s with Silvestri conducting the Bournemouth orchestra. In 2013, EMI re-issued most of his recordings with that company in a 15-disc set in which one reviewer noted the performances' "consistent character and quality"; alongside Tchaikovsky's symphonies 4-6 and Manfred, there was much other Russian music, Dvořák symphonies 7-9, and works by Bartok, Hindemith, Berlioz, Franck, Ravel and Debussy. Video and audio rarities with excerpts from Silvestri's concerts, rehearsals, live and studio recordings are featured in Anda Anastasescu Gritten's film series 'CONSTANTIN SILVESTRI: Avant-gardist, Master improviser, Homme passionné' (7 episodes: Prelude, Lead soldiers, The little shepherd, Fireworks, Pictures at an exhibition, Nocturne, Bacchanalia). In the films, Silvestri conducts the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the ORTF Orchestra, the Bucharest Philharmonic, the Romanian National Radio Symphony Orchestra and the orchestra of the Romanian National Opera. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Silvestri’s death and after 19 years of campaigning to revive his memory, pianist Anda Anastasescu and journalist John Gritten produced a 2-CD set for the RMA label (Romanian Musical Adventure) with Silvestri conducting the Bournemouth orchestra. The album has an unusual history: many of the concerts conducted by Silvestri in Britain were broadcast by the BBC. Lack of archive space led to the destruction of the master tapes of the majority of these broadcasts but Silvestri had recorded many concerts and 350 reel-to-reel tapes were given to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra archive by his widow. A chance re-discovery of the tapes by the orchestra’s librarian led to the involvement of Raymond Carpenter, the orchestra’s principal clarinettist during his leadership and the BSO’s and Silvestri’s archivist. The set contains works broadcast by the BBC in the 1960s from Bournemouth and Bristol: Silvestri's own 'Three Pieces for Strings', Enescu's Symphony No. 1, First and Second Orchestral Suites, Mozart's Magic Flute Overture, Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1 and Dvorak's Slavonic Dances.