On 20 November 1921 an enthusiastic letter written by the poet Cincinat Pavelescu is published in "Rampa", a letter which we see fit to transcribe in full: Dear Mr. Editor in Chief, My life's absorbing activities of incessant work at the head of a newspaper without any subventions or encouragement will constitute an excuse to explain my extended silence. However, the French-Romanian publication has not made me forget the sympathy that you showed at "Rampa" both to myself and to my wife Alice Viardor (singer).There is an artistic event that rattled the tired nerves of Paris and conferred our country a prestige about which it is fit that I should inform you.The concert that our great George Georgescu conducted in the Conservatory Hall on the evening of 10 November made such an impression, even in the most blasé milieus, that us Romanians were too flattered in our hearts not to pay the unsurpassed conductor Georgescu the homage of our admiration and enthusiasm.There are 7-8 concerts in Paris daily. People are tired and distrustful of the new celebrities that appear and disappear just like shooting stars. It must be someone endowed with too extraordinary a talent and unaccountably likable, in order for a new name to be able to rise and endure lastingly in this huge and noisy Paris.It is Georgescu's case.A day before the concert no one knew him in Paris. The next day he was famous.In the Conservatory Hall he conducted the biggest and the best orchestra in Paris, which mostly comprised Conservatory professors and illustrious graduates. Well, on the night of the concert the stream of admiration went about like electricity and the entire hall was under the spell of the great artist's authoritarian, delicate and lithe baton.The severest critics, the press, the diplomats, music professionals, all were unanimous in recognising the Romanian's virtuosity and superior gifts.At a banquet I heard about a conductor that had told Georgescu after the concert:"Sir, no one can conduct Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony" like you did. It's a revelation. ."I am writing to you most hastily, with the request that you spread the news of this honourable triumph among your readers. Cincinat PavelescuParis,17 November 1921
"Le Figaro", 30 March 1926, Robert Brussel "George Georgescu is familiar to concert goers. The news coming from the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Romania etc… are all welcomed by our public. Not a long time ago, his concert with the Conservatory orchestra caused a sensation.He has all the qualities that make up the personality of a great conductor. Authority, hold, litheness, ease, elegant gestures – which he is neither too generous nor too pernicious with –, he has enough exuberance in his movements to seduce the public.An excellent musician, educated at the German school, he unites most happily the traditional seriousness of his culture with Latin inspiration.A poet, not only a temperamental musician, to whom his youth plentifully conveys strength and vigorous accents. A blinding performance in L'Apprenti sorcier, expertly marked sound progression, vigour, brilliance within rational bounds, everything adds up beautifully, even his legitimate success, owing to such talent." "Un souffle de grandeur – concert dirige par Georges Georgesco", Warsaw, signed Stanislav Piaseski "Indeed, a conductor speaks through the soul of every ensemble member, who becomes a mirror of his artistic suggestions. But could the grandeur of an orchestra come to life, if you yourself as artist do not belong to that class of performers animated by this grandeur?One could talk and write endlessly about George Georgescu - the critic says, proceeding to analyse the conductor's artistic qualities -, but trying not to lose our way among details, we should first of all confess openly that we are facing an emergence, whose name is Grandeur. A breath of grandeur – this is what the concerts conducted by George Georgescu give out, engrossed as they are by an indescribable atmosphere – that causes the public's heart to share the inner rhythm of his music, slowing down its progress at the pianissimos only to rise to heights where one is irresistibly enraptured and follows him wholeheartedly."Paul le Flem, "Comedia", 19 January 1930 "From all the innumerable conductors that have visited Pleyel in the recent past, Georgescu is certain to have made the best impression." Polish journal: "The Philharmonic's latest concert is not only the most interesting, but also the most brilliant. For this we have the Romanian conductor Georgescu to thank, who allowed us to recognise him as an exceptional conductor, of an exceptional quality, which can bring him international glory. Since Nikish's death, no other conductor has proved himself so as Master George Georgescu. Like Nikish, and even more than him, his hands are independent from one another. His left does not move mechanically following the right, but is used for the supplementary indications given to the orchestra. A wide perspective, a phenomenal memory of the details he never ignores, always having in mind the sound level, the overall coherence, the bright finish, in short, all those qualities that made Nikish a conductor .""Master Georgescu's presence on the stand of the Washington Opera House will remain a historical event."
Johannes Iacobi, "Frankfurter Zeitung", November 1939 "What the Romanians can do in music cannot be compared with anything", Iacobi begins his article. "The care and the finesse applied by musicians to foreign and German patrimony is surprising. This can be seen in the work at the Romanian Opera House. It is now again led by the General Director of the Philharmonic, George Georgescu." "Il Messagero" writes: "Master George Georgescu's art has reached a peak, by exceptional performances, full of psychology and temperate passion.""La Tribuna": "We are not aware of a performance that renders the music with more expressiveness and ardour than the one conveyed by Mr. George Georgescu. He is peerless," the critic adds. The correspondents of foreign newspapers record in the national press the impressions they gathered: "The symphonic concert conducted on Sunday at the Adriano Theatre in Rome by George Georgescu was the most resounding success of the year…the Roman public gave their warmest welcome to the Master, the great Romanian conductor." Another year, we read in "Il Messagero" about Pini di Roma: "With his baton, Mr. Georgescu revealed to us his high message of art, by rendering the entire intimate poetry of this peerless opera's content. He brought to us that delight, that serene beauty, that heroic grandeur that lay written in the symphonic pages, with burning vigorous efficiency." "When conductor George Georgescu goes up on the stand, he wins you over with highly expressive gestures. He sets all artistic possibilities of the first orchestra in Bucharest free, causing unsuspected whirls of passion, bewitching through powerful gradations, moving and extremely mobile in tempo, or unchaining a rhythm of overwhelming force that makes the group of musicians seem the single instrument of his artistic will (in Don Juan).…With their native music, the artists from Bucharest brought to Vienna as a considerable asset very precious and original art…" the Viennese newspapers write."Dresdner Nachrichten" (1941):"The born conductor is not a whole than can be made up out of separate parts, it is an indivisible whole. In the figure of George Georgescu we have before us the marvel of an entity, the almost "fashionable" charm of whose appearance renders it grand. Yesterday, when this Romanian conductor raised his baton at our Philharmonic, one knew that a hundred pairs of musical eyes were waiting for the sign of a sovereign from the kingdom of sounds. George Georgescu made the Philharmonic sound like no one else managed to until now, not even the worshipped Mengelberg…Since there are prizes awarded to achievements in the fields of poetry or fine arts, someone should also come up with a prize for the best concert evening of the year. We could express our gratitude in this way. Without any doubt, George Georgescu's concert from yesterday would deserve the first prize. It was perhaps the loveliest, most interesting and most varied programme that we have listened to in years at the Philharmonic's concerts.Prokofiev's Classical Symphony, which called to mind the character of the rococo period in an amazingly amusing manner, was followed by H. Rabaud's Nightly Procession (after Lenau's Faust) – a special, unspeakably tender piece from the art of Neo-French music. The Romanian Georgescu supported Enescu, who proved to be an original composer with his first Rhapsody, having an extremely well developed sense of colouring and technique. After the intermission there followed Ravel with his Valse, brilliantly arranged; at last, vanquishing everybody, Strauss with his undying Till Eulenspiegel…Be we would not be able to separate any of these works from the unforgettable interpretation rendered to us yesterday; not even Strauss's brilliant work of finesse, that we thought to know perfectly, is an exception: it presented itself before us with the freshness of morning dew, new-born…Blessed was he who experienced this evening at the Philharmonic. He will be left for a long time after this concert with the criterion to evaluate the art of truly creative conductor…" Dr. Rollan Teuschert writes in "Neuer Wiener Tageblatt" of 26 January 1943: "Georgescu turned the performance of Brahms's symphony into a miraculous experience. The tempos, the passion and the crescendos were of unheard of quality; it was – as Joseph Marx says – the romantic search shrouded in classical forms, which proves Georgescu once again to be an ideal performer for all German music." "The Philharmonic is a country's personal card." George Georgescu Motto: "I wish to conduct as long as I live" (George Georgescu )"I first saw George Georgescu at the Warsaw Philharmonic between the two world wars. He often came to conduct in this hall, and it was here that I received my musical initiation. Georgescu was one of the major characters of the magic world I experienced as a child. His noble silhouette, his large and elegant moves, his sharp looks are to remain forever in my mind. Being very young I couldn't quite understand the nature of his genius, whose characteristics may lead to contradiction; he had an elementary force and a rigorous discipline, a refined sensuality and rare deep understanding of the world. But the thing that surfaced with the highest clarity was his mysterious gift, which made him totally transform the sound of our orchestra. The pianissimos before the final theme of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, the majestic sounds in the final part of Pini di Roma by Respighi, when the concert hall was filled up with this huge sound of the entire orchestra, those were the moments when the gift that I was talking about manifested itself in an irresistible way. This is why every single one of Georgescu's performances conducting the Philharmonic was an exceptional, unforgettable event. After World War II, Georgescu came to Warsaw with his orchestra; I finally had the chance of being introduced to him. The greatness of Georgescu – the artist I knew – was completed by his personal charisma, the peace and wisdom which Georgescu the man had. But the moment became even more memorable for me, and that was because Georgescu had included one of my compositions in his programme. The small piece that he chose sparkled with all its colours, and I had never before heard it played like this, with so much power and imagination. For all those around the world who had the chance of listening to his music, the disappearance of the Maestro is a tragic loss, because great artists never come back to life, they are one of the kind, unique, irreplaceable. But the privilege of superior beings is that they keep on living in the hearts of those who admired them and who owe them the most beautiful moments in their lives. And George Georgescu will live on because he was great, one the greatest of our times." "When you attend a concert conducted by G. Georgescu, the presence of the artist, the fluid that his entire being emanates, from the stand to the orchestra and then reflecting upon the public, you even forget about his other interpretations – which had seemed to be the best – you forget any other interpretation. The way G. Georgescu sees music must be looked upon as a whole building, as if you contemplated a monument that needed perspective, and whose shapes slowly appear from a large distance. Georgescu, some say, belongs to the great old traditional way of performing." "It's not easy for me to answer your question. There are lots of things to remember about George Enescu, and of different kinds. There are the professional ones, due to my collaboration with him as a performer and composer, there are, as well, those memories that make people become good friends. Even if we personally met quite late, in Bucharest, in my first year of conducting the Philharmonic, the friendship between me and G. Enescu, the well-known violin player and composer of the time, was consolidating strongly. I used to live at the Hotel Boulevard during those months; almost every morning Enescu came to my place and we had coffee and milk together. Those were the good old mornings…Pleasant jokes but also long talks, there were our lunches at the Europa Restaurant, together with Dinicu or Duiliu Zamfirescu. I watched him as a violin player, and as a conductor at rehearsals as well. I remember it was one of my first concerts in Paris, and he played as a soloist, which I deeply appreciated, because he was already famous, while I was only beginning… His carrier as an international violin player took him away from his country. But Enescu, also deeply bound to his people, used to come for concerts almost every year, all around the country. During the profound misery of the two wars, Enescu, like a faithful son of our people, left all his personal matters behind, and came to live the danger with his brothers, shattering the sadness of those hard days, spreading all over the joy and the light of his art. He was a man who liked a good joke, a well-told story, himself a great storyteller; his inner self was very homogeneous: it would be hard for me to say what the most impressing thing with him was. The man and the artist were one. That is why I am dedicated with all my heart to Enescu's compositions, to him who has been a friend since my beginnings as a conductor. Since 1921 there hasn't been one year or one country where I haven't put on stage one or more works by my distinguished colleague. Suites, rhapsodies, poems, symphonies, I love them all the same." "One last question about the festival is: Do you have any personal connection to or anything to say about the guests that will be here during the Festival days?" "I know them all, of course, with some I have beautiful memories, with others I am good friends. Take David Oistrah, for example. I can't forget the warmth of his soul; Carlo Felice Cillario, who lived in our country for a few years, was a soloist in my concerts many times. I am emotionally bound to Monique Haas, such a fine and elevated artist, to Mihailovici, to Sacha Popov, to Claudio Arrau, who played a Tchaikovsky in Berlin for the first time under my conduction. I am bound to Yehudi Menuhin, whom I have known ever since he was a child, studying in Paris with Enescu in his apartment from Rue de Clichy. At that time he could hardly put his little hand on the upper positions of the violin… Now I'm going to make a confession. I don't have anything bur rehearsals in mind, I plan to make many of them and good ones in a very short time – until then I'd like to rest for a while to gather some strength so I may be able to work again." (George Georgescu) The magazine "Contemporanul" writes on 29 May 1959: "Budapest welcomed us with a special interest and that was because this was the first hearing of the Romanian symphonic orchestra for the music lovers of the neighbouring capital. The endless applause, the Bravos and the Encores proved the doubtless success. The great composer Zoltan Kodaly himself wanted to embrace George Georgescu, thanking him for the hours of intense joy he had had." "It's just the way it happened last Friday and Saturday when the Ninth Symphony was conducted by George Georgescu. This eminent conductor certainly deserves the love and respect that the Polish public is giving him. We are constantly amazed at the amount of brand new details unobserved until now, which he manages to extract from the same score, apparently well-known by any amateur or musician." "I am here, seventy five years old, with a powerful desire: that my music should contribute, if it were possible, to the development of our musical life. I leave to the others the appraisal as to what extent my desire was fulfilled. During my entire activity I only counted on the sincere love and respect that I had and have for the eternal values of musical creation. I am happy to have been born at the bosom of such a talented people as ours. Its intelligence, capability and appreciation for the beautiful have helped me in my very evolution." (George Georgescu) "A musician's year never begins on January 1st, but when the musical season opens. In the autumn of "62, George Georgescu and the Romanian Philharmonic leave for Hungary. The evening's solo player is this time Radu Aldulescu. Budapest comes after Debrecen, where the concert was just as successful. The old composer Zoltan Kodaly is celebrating his 80th birthday, and for this occasion our orchestra prepares a surprise Encore. Maestro Georgescu conducts as skillfully as always, while Aldulescu's playing is the delight of the public. They are both cheered. Next on the program is Beethoven's Eighth Symphony, whose finale, in spite of the terrible heat in the theatre, the tiredness after the difficult tour, and also the senior age of our conductor, is a colourful strong interpretation that amazes the public. The press will write after Georgescu's performance that his counted among those of the world's greatest conductors, for offering a succulent symphony, which was the top of the evening. At the public's enthusiastic request, Georgescu opens his arms as if for a strong sincere hug and throws himself into a brilliant performance of Hary Janos's Suite Chardash, into which he puts all his energy, his will, his and his orchestra's soul. Wild cheering and applause thank the conductor and his marvelous ensemble that had responded so well to the conductor's impulse. Kodaly's face is purple red, he is deeply moved. He warmly shakes George Georgescu's hand, the latter being surrounded by so many flower baskets that he can barely find room on the stand anymore." "What a wonderful orchestra, what marvelous musicians! I have found them again, now more disciplined, more serious, but I found the same big-hearted, virtuous George Georgescu, who makes the entire orchestra ensemble vibrate like one big instrument, which I'd compare to a Stradivarius violin. With massive emotion I listened to the magnificent interpretation of one of Enescu's works, then one of Prokofiev's, and, last but not least, the always brilliantly ironic, forever young, Till. I have never in my life listened to this little symphony more accurately and joyfully played, without any vulgar exaggeration. The Romanians seem to be born with the violin in their hands and with the music in their hearts. But one must not forget that they have been lucky enough to be led in the last 40 years by a conductor whose qualifying adjective is "great". The big orchestra becomes a sensitive instrument in his hands, capable of expressing delicacy and power at the same time", says a journalist from the "Italia" daily paper emphatically. "I am literally astonished when I see such an extensive ensemble playing a piano with such delicacy, reaching such a heavenly pianissimo."
With justified sorrow, literary critic George Calinescu wrote in an obituary in 1964: "Everything is evanescent in this world, but the fate of the conductor appears to me as the saddest. Apart from the fact that he is an alter ego of geniuses, himself a genius in his own way, that without him those geniuses would remain encrypted and mute, nothing but hieroglyphs, people forget him so easily."The Romanian school in the 19th century did not have internationally-prestigious professional orchestra conductors, but, in exchange, choral music had Gavril Musicescu, Gheorghe Dima, and Ion Vidu, whose fame went far beyond the borders of the Romanian Principalities, as their choral societies reached enviable artistic heights. Of course, we cannot ignore the lyrical shows in Bucharest, Iasi, and Craiova, where conductors Alexandru Flechtenmacher, Ludwig Anton Wiest, and Eduard Caudella imposed a higher artistic target in the national musical theaters. It is worth mentioning, even if their activity was short, the names of Hermann Boenicke in Sibiu and Bruno Walter's debut in Timisoara (1898). Around 1877-1878, when Romania became independent, great military fanfares were being established, and many military conductors distinguished themselves in the Romanian artistic landscape: Eduard Huebsch, George Fotino, and Ion Vladuta. Unfortunately, symphony orchestra conductors still did not appear, and composer Eduard Wachmann (1836-1908) was the only musician who accumulated some experience conducting the Romanian Philharmonic Society. In the early 20th century, when George Enescu appeared, the much expected revival not only in composing, but also in performing music occurred. Dimitrie Dinicu took over the symphony orchestra in Bucharest after having taught chamber music at the Conservatory, Egizio Massini came to this country with an Italian opera company and stayed here, supporting the idea of a Romanian opera, but Enescu and later his disciple Antonin Ciolan – who conducted either the Bucharest orchestra, whose members had taken refuge in Moldavia when World War I broke out (1916-1918), or the George Enescu Symphonic Orchestra in Iasi (1918) – were the first to distinguish themselves as professional conductors in Romania. The promising debuts of young Alfred Alessandrescu (1913), Ion Nonna Otescu (1915), and Jean Bobescu (1918) seemed to announce the emergence of the conducting personalities, able to turn the first orchestra of this country into a world-renown "instrument." In this context, George Georgescu first conducted the Philharmonic in Bucharest on January 4, 1920. The new conductor was 33 years old, and he did not step on a "virgin land" or use the miracle of gifted children to conquer his audience. However, he came from the stern school that had thoroughly educated him in Berlin, taught by professors Arnold Kleffel and Arthur Nikisch. Equally, when he made his debut in Bucharest, George Georgescu found two great choral societies there, led by two maestros: the Carmen society, with D.G. Kiriac, and Song to Romania with Marcel Botez. Both vocal ensembles will work with the young director of the Philharmonic in tackling large-scale vocal symphonic scores. Having arrived in Bucharest after his direct contact with the great classical and Romantic German tradition, Georgescu wished to bestow the same aura of great European ensembles on our orchestras. Of course, at first, the need for highly-qualified instrumentalists forced him to import foreign musicians. The fact that the orchestra was suddenly over-sized and that he brought a lot of foreign musicians (giving up young Romanians) always made things difficult for him in terms of finances and politics. Equally, the fact that he used the same orchestra both for symphonic concerts and at the opera created very much hard work for the instrumentalists, which is difficult to accept on only one salary. However, his tenacity, energy, and professional skill helped Georgescu clear the hurdles and overcome the prejudices of the musicians, while his cooperation spirit and spectacular results brought major satisfactions to everybody. What were the underlying ideas of director and conductor George Georgescu all along his career? A mere reading of the programs and posters of the Philharmonic and opera during the years when he was their director proves that the conductor managed to educate the public by way of the repertoire. Taking over from his precursors a limited number of classical works (Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn) and Romantic ones (Schubert, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms), George Georgescu expanded the repertoire both in terms of epochs and schools, and, most of all, in terms of styles and musical languages. It would be enough to list the names of composers like Paul Dukas, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Gabriel Faure, Vincent d'Indy, Gabriel Pierne (the French were the conductor's Trojan horse in his first two decades), then Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Glazunov, Shostakovich, Vladigerov, Arnold Schoenberg, Arthur Honegger, Karol Szymanowski, and so on, to see his firm opening of the horizon to the contemporary music. In parallel, he introduced large-scale classical works, such as Missa Solemnis and the Ninth Symphony by Beethoven, Mozart's Requiem Mass, and Tchaikovsky's and Brahms' symphonies. Constantly, Richard Strauss had a special place, perhaps also because they were friends: that composer had his most resilient successes in Romania, second only to his native country. Georgescu's unique interpretation of Till Eulenspiegel, Don Quixote, Tod und Verklaerung, Ein Heldenleben, An Alpine Symphony, Don Juan, and operas Der Rosenkavalier and Salome singled him out in international music in the mid-20th century. He continued Dimitrie Dinicu's concerts celebrating composers (Smetana, Mozart, Chopin, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, and Wagner), but he also introduced spectacular festivals of Polish, French, English, and, most of all, Romanian music.The presence of the original Romanian music in the repertoire of the Bucharest Philharmonic was not only a matter of national pride for him, but also an act of public recognition for the autochthonous spiritual values, which had many future consequences. Mihail Jora, Stan Golestan, Filip Lazar, Mihail Andricu, Dinu Lipatti, Marcel Mihalovici, Alexandru Zirra, Ion Dumitrescu, Ludovic Feldman, Gheorghe Dumitrescu, Constantin Silvestri, Theodor Rogalski, Sabin Dragoi, Mircea Chiriac, Valentin Gheorghiu, and, above all, George Enescu, who was permanently on his posters, had a preferential place in the conductor's heart.This view of the repertoire, promoting masterpieces, was the same at the Romanian Opera. From The Magic Flute and Fidelio up to Boris Godunov, Carmen, Aida, Tosca, The Valkyrie, Parsifal, Der Rosenkavalier, L'Heure Espagnol, and A Stormy Night by Paul Constantinescu the conductor sought to attract the audience toward all schools and epochs, and to make Romanian singers familiar with Mozart and Wagner, but, most of all, to avoid the facile and unilateral bend of the institution toward a routine, comfortable repertoire, of interest only to a small audience. Georgescu's desire to bring the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra into the international musical circuits made him bring the world's greatest composers and performers to the Romanian Athenaeum. How many European orchestras worked in just two or three decades with the likes of Richard Strauss, Vincent d'Indy, Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, Eugen d'Albert, Karol Szymanovski, Pancho Vladigerov, Pietro Mascagni, Alfredo Casella, and George Enescu on the posters of the same institution? How many musical centers with old traditions behind them worked on a permanent basis with Felix Weingartner, Hermann Scherschen, Pablo Casals, Arthur Rubinstein, Emil Sauer, Alfred Cortot, Wilhelm Backhaus, Enrico Mainardi, Jacques Thibaud, Walter Giseking, Wilhelm Kempff, Antonio Janigro, Gaspard Cassado, Henrik Szeryng, Claudio Arrau, Alma Moodie, Annie Fischer, Zino Francescatti, Ernest Ansermet, and then Yehudi Menuhin, David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter, Roberto Benzi, Carlo Zecchi, Monique de la Bruchollerie, Tony Aubin, Lev Oborin, Milos Sadlo, Leonid Kogan, John Barbirolli, Hans Swarovski, and so on? With such posters, the Bucharest Philharmonic not only penetrated the circuit of the great contemporary orchestras, but it was also sometimes in the vanguard of the greatest values.Owing to George Georgescu, Romania's capital became a virtual revolving stage between east and west in 1920-1964. In order to make this institution play a leading role, the conductor traveled to many parts of the world with the entire orchestra. After Greece and Turkey in 1922, followed Bulgaria and Yugoslavia in 1934, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Germany in 1941, Bulgaria in 1922, and, after the war, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, the USSR, Finland, Sweden, Hungary, East Germany, Austria, France, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, and England. (…)
ENESCUFor two weeks, Bucharest will become the musical capital of the world. This is not an exaggeration. The eyes of musicians everywhere are watching the city where the great George Enescu is being celebrated these days. Illustrious performers have arrived and are continuing to do so. We are hosting a considerable number of young pianists, violinists, and singers, who, following the great echo of the contest that was held three years ago, aspire to win the awards of this prestigious international competition. Great musicians, with an imposing artistic past, or who have great responsibility in the contemporary music, will serve on the juries, assuring absolute seriousness in selecting competitors owing to their great competence. Several foreign musicians will watch the festival events as honorary guests. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most resounding international musical events.Apart from Bartok and Sibelius, I do not know of any contemporary composer whose name has become an emblem for a periodic international music festival. The fact that the George Enescu contests and festivals are held every three years in Romania is more than an act of patriotic veneration. It is a phenomenon imposed by the spontaneous selection of our century's musical values. It seems that Enescu was the musician called upon to glitter on the musical firmament of mankind, owing to his formidable genius, with a force that decades will only serve to intensify. If we examine each individual facet of his multilateral personality, we will say: Enescu was one of the greatest composers, violinists, and conductors of his world. However, if we look at him as a synthesis of several musical traits, we will realize that Enescu is matchless among the musicians of this century. He liked to say "there were five of us in one," hinting to his rich activity as a composer, violinist, conductor, pianist, and teacher. In this self-characterization there is more than a review of professions. In him lived an artistic force several times more intense than what musicians specialized in one direction or another have. This volcanic inner experience marked everything he did and was transmitted to people around him in a fascinating manner. Undoubtedly, such a personality was foreordained for eternity.Few musicians enjoyed a fame like the one that accompanied his steps since as early as the time when children begin to go to school, without ever abandoning him, for the rest of his life. Still, Enescu was deeply unhappy, but he was a stoic and balanced personality, and did not clamor his inner dramas. In his memories in the last years of his life we find a shattering confession: "The two world wars were universal catastrophes, and my life is nothing but an individual catastrophe." Yes, Enescu was deeply unhappy, because the audience applauded precisely what he viewed as secondary in his personality – the virtuosity of the performer (he always saw the violin as a means to assure his material independence). What he really viewed as the most private part of his personality, and this is what it was – the gift to compose – remained the least known one, or it reached the audience in a distorted image. Enescu took more and more steps on the road to composing attainment, creating masterpieces like Symphony no. 3 for Piano and Violin, the opera Oedipe, the Village Suite, the quartets, and the Chamber Symphony, but, as far as the audience was concerned, he remained the joyous 20-year-old author of two rhapsodies. We do not mean here that those rhapsodies did not deserve their popularity – they are jewels of the genre – but is it natural for a mature creator to have his maturity work ignored, that work in which his genius manifested itself in its greatest depth? Let us think how absurd it would be for people to only play Beethoven's Symphony no. 1, or his first sonata for piano? Well, Enescu had to live and work in the atmosphere of such an absurdity for decades. What a giant moral force he must have had to continue to compose and seek perfection despite the fact that people ignored his composer's work! Now his compositions are being published, performed, and spread on a scale that keeps growing, without limits. Modest Enescu would not have suspected or dared hope that his work could be propagated so, as he never made use of his immense moral authority to impose the performance of any of his works. In fact, this is the main purpose of the this contest and festival – to popularize Enescu's work.This means that we, conductors, have a sacred duty. All my life, as much as I could, I have sought to popularize Enescu's work, which is one of the main traits of my activity as a conductor. From Leningrad to Philadelphia, I included a work by Enescu in almost every concert I conducted abroad. I am handing over the torch of this veneration to my younger colleagues, in a deep belief that they will carry it on in a dignified way. I hail their interest in the idea of contemporary music. Those who want to do this should never be content with their achievement, they should always seek to unveil new aspects of the maestro's creation. True reverence is not shown by walking on trodden paths, but by penetrating unexplored realms.Four days from now, the great international encounter dominated by the remembrance of this musical genius will be inaugurated. I will have the honor to conduct the inaugural concert. This joy of mine is saddened by a certain nostalgia for Enescu's unforgettable friendship and cooperation. I can feel him at the Athenaeum every time I climb on that podium from which he electrified the orchestra, and, when I open his letters, I can still see him sitting next to me, and speaking to me in his meek, Moldavian voice. However, let us chase away sad memories. Let us rejoice, friends, let us sing a hymn to this star of the Romanian music.George GeorgescuContemporanul, Bucharest, September 8, 1958
by various critics
