George Georgescu

The moving force behind the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra for decades beginning shortly after World War I, a protégé of Artur Nikisch and a close associate of George Enescu, he received honors from the French and communist Romanian governments and lived to make recordings in the stereo era.

[1] At age 18 Georgescu left from home and entered the Bucharest Conservatory[1] as a student of the double bass; the teachers there, quickly recognizing his musical gifts, arranged for his transfer to the cello class of Constantin Dimitrescu.

He was interned for a time in Berlin as an enemy alien; although the local artistic community quickly obtained his release, Georgescu was still obligated to contact the police twice daily.

[3] Not long after a private appearance as conductor at the home of Franz von Mendelssohn,[5] Georgescu made his public debut in that capacity on February 15, 1918, leading the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony, Grieg's Piano Concerto, and Richard Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks.

[4] King Ferdinand was honorary president of the Philharmonic Society; Georgescu was named artistic director of that body a year after his debut with the orchestra, by virtue of which appointment he became its permanent conductor.

[4] Back in Bucharest, Georgescu rehearsed and trained the enlarged ensemble to a high standard, sufficient to attract internationally celebrated guest conductors such as Richard Strauss, Bruno Walter, Felix Weingartner, Oskar Nedbal, and Gabriel Pierné;[4] notable soloists who played with the orchestra included Yehudi Menuhin, Pablo Casals, Alfred Cortot, Wilhelm Backhaus, Jacques Thibaud, Arthur Rubinstein, and Georgescu's young countryman Dinu Lipatti.

Naturally, it included works of Romanian composers such as Marcel Mihalovici, Paul Constantinescu,[1] Mihail Jora,[4] and especially Georgescu's friend Georges Enescu.

[6] As at the Philharmonic, he directed a wide-ranging repertoire, which, in addition to a heavy emphasis on the works of Wagner,[4] included Romanian works and more conventional fare such as Bizet's Carmen; Gounod's Faust; Verdi's Aida; Puccini's Tosca, Manon Lescaut, and La bohème; Mozart's The Magic Flute; Beethoven's Fidelio; Richard Strauss's Salome; Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov; and Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades.

Celebrated guest singers included the likes of Aureliano Pertile, Maria Cebotari,[6] Tito Schipa, and Feodor Chaliapin;[4] numbered among the conductors Georgescu invited to lead the opera company were Pietro Mascagni, Hugo Reichenberger, Felix Weingartner, and Clemens Krauss.

Georgescu also made guest appearances in Barcelona, where he performed at the invitation of Pablo Casals, and in Vienna, where his interpretation of music by Richard Strauss drew approbation from the formidable critic Julius Korngold.

When he went to the train station to pay his respects to Queen Maria of Romania, who was passing through the city en route to the United States, she insisted that he should go there as well, even though he had no engagements and no reputation there through which to obtain any.

Thus, when issues of health compelled Toscanini to cancel his remaining appearances beginning in late 1926, Judson immediately thought of Georgescu as a potential replacement, albeit an unknown quantity.

Of particular note, on January 6, 1933, he was the conductor of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra when Henryk Szeryng made his formal debut at age 14 playing Brahms's Violin Concerto.

[6] Georgescu was attractive to women, and for a time in 1920 even exchanged love letters with Elisabeth, eldest daughter of Queen Maria, although for reasons of state their relationship was quashed.

[13] Georgescu's fortunes, a largely unbroken string of successes for the preceding quarter century, would take a dramatically unfavorable turn in 1944, when Romania abruptly switched sides, joining the Allies.

[11] Only in 1947 would Georgescu begin to reconstruct his life and career as, with the intercession of his friend George Enescu, he was named director of the National Radio Orchestra of Romania,[1] ironically the same ensemble with which Silvestri had made his conductorial debut.

Under his renewed direction, the orchestra traveled to Finland; Sweden; the Soviet Union;[4] Berlin; Dresden; Vienna; and Athens, where it performed to great acclaim at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.

In 1958 he served as a member of the jury of the newly created International Tchaikovsky Competition, which, in a decision made more dramatic by the tensions of the Cold War, awarded first prize to the young American Van Cliburn.

Although Cliburn's performance, featuring Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, is best remembered, having been commemorated shortly after the event in a best-selling contemporary record,[19] the Russians also arranged a concert for their visitor Georgescu with fellow jurist Sviatoslav Richter.

Highlights included a performance of Bach's Concerto for Two Violins with Yehudi Menuhin and David Oistrakh as soloists and a staging of Enescu's sole opera, Œdipe, with Silvestri conducting.

[3] His last concert brought Georgescu full circle as he led the George Enescu Philharmonic in Berlin, the site of his conducting debut, in a program featuring violinist Christian Ferras.

[1] In honor of Georgescu's memory, teachers at the Arts High School in Tulcea started organizing a Contest for Performing Artists in his name in 1992; it has taken place annually ever since.

The tedium of interruptions, retakes, trials to accommodate the setup of equipment, and the like were at odds with his temperament, which found greatest expressiveness when given free rein in the presence of an audience; moreover, he was concerned about the need for perfection when performances were fixed in a permanent medium.

[27] Though some collectors believe that the Lingen Koln issue is a separately recorded set done on tour, and not a re-issue of the Electrecord series, as they do not sound like the same performances, even allowing for transfer variability.

[1] Otherwise, at least in the English-speaking world, Georgescu's name appears on CD primarily in connection with other, better-remembered musicians, as in his direction of the USSR State Orchestra partnering Sviatoslav Richter in a performance of Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Minor.