CONSTANTIN SILVESTRI: THE COLLECTION

Constantin Silvestri was a great conductor in an era of great conductors. Perhaps this is the reason why his work has been somewhat neglected. He died when he was only 55, too old to inspire the outpouring of grief that occurs when a young talent dies, but too young to have been mourned as a "grand old man" of the podium.

He was born in 1913. His early successes - in piano and composition, as well as in conducting - were in his native Bucharest, and in the Soviet Union, where his interpretation of Shostakovich's First Symphony earned the composer's highest praise. A Western music critic visiting Bucharest heard the Silvestri phenomenon and spread the word, leading to the conductor's British debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 1958, he came to Paris and spent three years there, conducting and recording with the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra. Then in 1961, he became principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, where remained until his death in 1969. (He became a British citizen in 1967.) The last ten years of his life were spent conducting major American, European and Asian orchestras; and appearing with soloists such as Yehudi Menuhin, Nathan Milstein, Claudio Arrau, and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Silvestri made frequent trips to the recording studio, mostly for EMI, but also for Supraphon and Melodiya. The recordings in this collection all have been licensed from EMI. No recording dates are listed, but the earliest publication date is 1958, and the most recent is 1968. Most of the recordings are stereophonic; some of the earlier ones (Debussy's La mer, Nocturnes, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and Ravel's Boléro) are monaural. I am guessing that many of them are appearing on CD for the first time, although EMI Classics has reissued Silvestri recordings here and there.

There are two motivations for acquiring this set. One is that it is a basic repertoire banquet, as one will notice from quickly perusing its contents. This, and the low price, might make it an excellent purchase for a beginning collector, who can tick many works off of his or her "essentials" list - in excellent performances - in one fell swoop. Unfortunately, there are no annotations at all - neither about the music, nor about the conductor - which somewhat reduces this set's suitability for novices.

The second reason is more to the point: Silvestri was an unusually fine conductor. There's not a performance here that doesn't illuminate the music in some uncommon yet (usually) completely valid manner. After a while, Conductor X's Finlandia or Franck Symphony can start to sound like Conductor Y's. The nice thing about these recordings is that Silvestri takes thrice-familiar music, thinks it through, and leads a performance that invites listeners to hear it with fresh ears - and all this without falsifying the music or indulging in ego trips. (I am, however, very curious about drastic revisions to the last minute or so of La mer.)

Many of Silvestri's most acclaimed recordings are here. The Bournemouth 1812 Overture (with the Band of H.M. Royal Marines led by Vivian Dunn) is a classic, and as bombast-free as any performance of this work can be. The Capriccio Italien is elegantly done, and the Polonaise from Eugene Onegin confirms that Silvestri didn't know the meaning of routine or "music that conducts itself."

Liszt's Tasso and Les Préludes (both with the Philharmonia) can't be conducted more musically (and less stupidly) than this. The Shostakovich Fifth is memorably good, although Silvestri's tempo relationships in the last movement are not strictly according to the score. Silvestri's affinity for the music of his adopted country is shown by a tense yet infectious Overture to The Wasps, and by the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. In the latter, Silvestri's passion almost gets the better of him, but what a heartfelt reading this is! Unfortunately, his famous recording of Elgar's In the South is not included here. Other notable omissions are his "New World" Symphony (winner of the Charles Cros Award) and his Enescu Wind Dixtuor. Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony, another famous Silvestri recording, has been reissued on Testament. For some reason, this set includes two Sorcerer's Apprentices: one from Paris and one from Bournemouth.

The sound on these discs is mostly good - some of the older recordings are rough around the edges, but not enough to seriously impair enjoyment. Each of the discs is housed in a sturdy envelope, and the ten envelopes fit neatly into a glossy and attractive cardboard box with a hinged lid.

Readers who already admire Silvestri might care to know that a biography of the conductor recently was released. It is authored by John Gritten and is called A Musician Before His Time. The publisher is Kitzinger.

Brittens Music Eastbourne