A MUSICIAN BEFORE HIS TIME
The authoritative biography by John Gritten
A biography with a Foreword by Yehudi Menuhin,
Lord Menuhin of Stoke D’Abernon
Aside from purely factual discoveries, the strength of Gritten’s book is its selection of quoted descriptions as to what Silvestri’s music-making actually sounded like (all too rare in many conductor biographies). This story is well worth telling and reading.
BBC Music Magazine
Absolutely indispensable to anyone who admired this brilliantly individual musician.
Classical Music UK
Connoisseurs of conductors will find much of interest in this absorbing book.
Journal of the Conductors Guild, US
The book is written in a readable, journalistic style, clearly aimed at the general music-lover rather than the specialist – yet even the latter will find valuable information here.
International Record Review
A wonderful book on this complex and fascinating personality of the 20th Century music world. Amazon 5 Stars
John Gritten was impressed by Silvestri’s conducting of Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms in the Royal Festival Hall in 1957. From exclusive access to Silvestri’s personal letters and research in Bucharest, he reveals Silvestri’s pre-war struggles in Romania against ill-health and intrigue, his loves, set-backs, triumphs and frustration at political interference.
Interviewed in Bucharest, Paris and London, over 40 of Silvestri’s contemporaries give their impressions of him: conductors, composers and soloists of the calibre of Daniel Barenboim, Ida Haendel and Vladimir Ashkenazy. The general manager and orchestral players in the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra share their memories, talk about Silvestri’s musical approach, working methods and relationship with the players and recount captivating moments and anecdotes.
