George Enescu, who died in 1955, is Romania’s most celebrated composer. A child prodigy, he wrote an opus for piano and violin entitled “Romanian Land” at the age of five. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory and then the Conservatoire de Paris. As well as a prolific composer, he was a distinguished conductor, and was at one stage considered as a possible replacement for Toscanini at the New York Philharmonic. He was close to the Romanian Royal Family, particularly to the British-born Queen Marie, and at his house near the Royal Summer Palace in Sinaia was a violin tutor to the young Yehudi Menuhin. Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A major, an exuberant triumph drawing from Romanian folk tunes such as Ciocarlia, the Skylark, has become a musical calling-card for the country.
It is appropriate then that George Enescu has given his name to the biennial festival of classical music in Bucharest which has become the most important in Romania, bringing in the top orchestras and classical performers from around the world. And it is a particular pleasure that, again this year, British orchestras and performers have been a prominent part of the festival, reflecting the close ties in classical music between our two countries.
Indeed, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, had the honour of opening the 2017 edition of the festival at the start of this month with a performance of Enescu’s opera Oedipe, an ambitious and dramatic work which covers the story of Oedipus’s whole life. London audiences will have the chance to see this fine performance too – the London Philharmonic will perform it again at the Southbank Centre on 23 September. And the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra delighted the Bucharest audience with their lively rendition of Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No 1.
It was a privilege for me to host a private recital for two fine Romanian musicians, both based in the UK and developing their careers there, ahead of their festival performance at the Bucharest Athenaeum.
Alexandra Dariescu has been identified by International Piano Magazine as “one of 30 pianists under 30 destined for a spectacular career”, and has played in venues from the Royal Albert Hall to Carnegie Hall, and I’m delighted to say now twice at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Bucharest, having first given a wonderful short recital during the visit of the Lord Mayor of London in June, as a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music. Her own production, “The Nutcracker and I”, premieres at the Barbican in December.
Remus Azoitei was appointed professor of violin at the Royal Academy of Music in 2001, becoming the youngest ever violin professor in the institution’s history. His performances include a widely praised recital of Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins together with Nigel Kennedy. I joined him last year in Sinaia, where he had put together a summer camp for students from the Royal Academy of Music and other promising young performers.
This was the first time Alexandra and Remus have given a joint recital, and we were treated as were the festival audience the following night to a wonderful programme of Bach, Bartok, Beethoven and, of course, Enescu.
The festival is one of the many examples of the deep and special partnership between the UK and Romania – born of shared passions and values, and through which develop shared friendships.