A Romanian Rhapsody - The Life of Conductor Sergiu Comissiona
“Life is a great teacher, and I believe that the best lesson I have mastered from life is to see the glass as half-full, and not half-empty – to take from life only the best, regardless of all the horror I have witnessed in my existence.….” Sergiu Comissiona
Compellingly written by Cecilia Burcescu, Maestro Sergiu Comissiona’s authorized biography, A Romanian Rhapsody, reveals facts about his happy childhood in a Jewish petit bourgeois family in Bucharest (then “the little Paris of Eastern Europe”), his adolescence under the Nazi specter, and his youth in repressive communist times behind the Iron Curtain. His life changes as he leaves behind the narrow horizons of communist Romania for the broad ones of the Western world, when he immigrates to Israel, later settling in England, then Sweden and, finally, the United States. The book follows chronologically and analytically his career path, from an ensemble violinist to an internationally-renowned conductor, based on his own accounts, extended research, and revealing testimonials. The Maestro’s rationale for having his biography written was, in his own words, “for the Westerners to understand my deep attachment to my Romanian roots, for the Romanians to know about my struggle for artistic affirmation in the Western world, and mostly for young conductors to realize that through passion, patience and persistence – and by not committing suicide after the first failure – the dedicated commitment to the profession bears fruit.”
"A Romanian Rhapsody", by Charles Smith, issued in The Georgia Straight, May 21-28, 2009
A Romanian Rhapsody
By Charlie Smith
Publish Date: May 21, 2009
By Cecilia Burcescu. Xlibris, 580 pp, $28.20, softcover
At one point in this epic biography of former Vancouver Symphony Orchestra musical director Sergiu Comissiona, the maestro declares: “Unfortunately, the fame of a conductor lasts only as long as he lives. Afterwards, he is forgotten.” Vancouver author and poet Cecilia Burcescu has made a Herculean effort to prove him wrong in A Romanian Rhapsody: The Life of Conductor Sergiu Comissiona.
In 1990, Comissiona, a celebrated Romanian-born conductor, was appointed musical director of the then demoralized and debt-soaked VSO. By the time he left 10 years later, the accumulated deficit had been wiped out, the VSO was in the black, and subscriptions were up substantially.
More importantly, as Burcescu demonstrates, the VSO emerged as a majestic musical force under Comissiona’s direction. The book chronicles numerous successes, including the dazzling 1995 season-opening marathon performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. Burcescu also covers a memorable 1997 concert in which the orchestra upstaged legendary violinist Isaac Stern, as well as Comissiona’s final appearance as musical director in 2000, which received effusive praise from critics Lloyd Dykk and Douglas Hughes.
She reveals Comissiona as a man full of old-world charm with a rich sense of humour and an extraordinarily efficient work ethic. Because Burcescu is of Romanian ancestry, she is able to write authoritatively about the maestro’s formative years in Eastern Europe. There are scores of anecdotes, some hilarious and others quite disturbing, including a tale about how he avoided being rounded up by the Nazis because they mistakenly assumed his apartment was empty. In the late 1950s, Romanian authorities imposed horrific financial penalties on Comissiona after they learned that he and his wife, Robinne, had applied to emigrate to Israel.
Classical-music lovers will appreciate Burcescu’s emphasis on Comissiona’s work as a conductor. Comissiona, who died in 2005 of a heart attack, was a master of colour and tempo during his lengthy career, which included stints in Haifa, London, Stockholm, Baltimore, Houston, New York, Madrid, Helsinki, and Bucharest.
The book suffers from some minor editing lapses. On the upside, however, there’s an impressive collection of quotes from more than three dozen people who came into contact with Comissiona over the years, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Radu Lupu. Their words explain why Sergiu Comissiona should never be forgotten.
Source URL: http://www.straight.com/article-222202/symphony-no-3-romanian-rhapsody
"Journey from Romania to Canada", by Olga Livshin,
issued in the Jewish Independent, June 5, 2009
June 5, 2009
Journey from Romania to Canada
A longtime friend and writer pens Vancouver Maestro Sergiu Comissiona's biography.
OLGA LIVSHIN
Cecilia Burcescu, a Romanian-born instructor of English language and literature at Vancouver Community College and the author of the recent book A Romanian Rhapsody: The Life of Conductor Sergiu Comissiona, loves classical music. Through that love, she first met world-renowned conductor Maestro Sergiu Comissiona, when he was the music director of the Vancouver Symphony (1990-2000).
Like Comissiona, Burcescu spent her formative years in Romania, enduring the absurdity and thought-policing of Nicolae Ceausescu's dictatorship. In 1984, she decided that the situation had become untenable and the only way out was to flee the country. Leaving her two young children behind, she crossed four borders illegally, always looking over her shoulder, afraid someone would shoot at her. Suffused with fear and hope, she finally arrived in West Germany, where she asked for political asylum. Afterwards, Burcescu wrote many letters to the Red Cross, until she and her children were reunited. The family then waited for the permit to immigrate to Canada.
The wait was long, and the living conditions harsh. Fed up with the bureaucratic labyrinth, Burcescu wrote another letter – to England. "When I was a university student of English literature," she recalled, "Margaret Thatcher visited Romania. I was her interpreter for two weeks." Now, in her freezing attic in a small town in Germany, she wrote a letter to the British prime minister's office, asking for advice. "They helped!" she said in amazement. "They sent a recommendation letter to the Canadian consulate in Bonn, with the letterhead of the Queen." She still has a copy of that letter, saying that Thatcher remembered her young interpreter. The next day, Burcescu's family received their longed-for permit and prepaid plane tickets to Vancouver.
In Vancouver, Burcescu soon became a regular subscriber to the Orpheum Theatre. Once, she read an ad about an upcoming concert that promised George Enescu's music had "gypsy flavor." Incensed at the affront to the greatest Romanian composer, she wrote an angry letter to the symphony, demanding to know since when Enescu had "gypsy flavor." To her surprise, Comissiona himself replied to her missive. He apologized, explained that he didn't know about the ad, promised to get it withdrawn and invited her backstage after the concert. The friendship that had started with such a memorable incident continued until the end of the maestro's life. And, no surprise: there was so much in common between the two Romanians.
In 2004, when Comissiona's Vancouver contract was already over, he confided to Burcescu that several people had approached him to write his biography. "I don't know whom to choose," he complained. "Ask every contender to write you a sample chapter," she suggested. She even faxed him an example – a draft of her own foreword – and he immediately hired her as his official biographer.
Burcescu's biography of Comissiona begins with flying. A fitting beginning, as it highlights the conductor's life. While soaring on the wings of music, the maestro was perpetually in transit – from orchestra to orchestra, from city to city and continent to continent. A man on the move, he brought music with him everywhere, spreading it around the world.
The book follows Comissiona in his travels – some desirable, others imposed on him by the postwar communist regime in Romania. From his happy Jewish childhood in Bucharest, through the terrors of Nazism and the crippling restrictions of communism, to the freedom and concert halls of the West, only three things remained constant in his life: his love of music, his devotion to his beloved wife, Robinne, and his adherence to his ethnic roots, both Romanian and Jewish.
The author followed her hero whenever he had an engagement that allowed him to stay in one place for a few days. She recorded his life during their multiple storytelling sessions. Because she went through similar ordeals in her own life, her explanations of the frightening political atmosphere in totalitarian Romania ring true. Despite Comissiona's rising star as a bright young conductor, the climate of fear and censorship suffocated him, both artistically and personally, at last, contributed to his uneasy decision to leave Romania and immigrate to Israel in 1959.
Without embellishment or exaggeration, Burcescu writes about Comissiona's struggle during their first few months in Israel, about his wife's courage and enterprising spirit and her husband's almost-despair at his inability to find a conducting position. Later, Comissiona re-entered his element as a conductor, winning accolades in Israel, Sweden, England and Ireland.
Ten years later, the American chapter of the maestro's life started, when he accepted the position of the music director of the Baltimore Symphony, a position he held for 17 years. Burcescu wrote about this period in Comissiona's life with honest details, listing his concerts, cataloguing his triumphs and disappointments. As he built that orchestra, from its provincial, mediocre status to the rank of one of the best musical ensembles in America, he also continued his "jet conductor" existence.
His reputation for fixing orchestral problems brought him in 1990 to Vancouver, where he pulled the Vancouver Symphony from the brink of financial collapse. Striving for excellence and widening his professional horizons, Comissiona created music that was colorful and picturesque, reminiscent of his Romanian origins. He promoted new composers, regularly performed at several summer festivals and launched many young musicians to stardom. Among his protégés were such international celebrities as Yo Yo Ma and Murry Sidlin.
In 2005, Comissiona died as he lived, making music, leaving behind constellations of orchestras he built, friends he cultivated and young talents he nurtured. His death devastated Burcescu, whose last work session with Comissiona happened in Athens only two weeks earlier. The book wasn't finished, but it became Burcescu's legacy, her labor of love. She had to bring it to fruition.
Her deep, exhaustive research has paid off. Sometimes, the narrative reaches the heights of poetic metaphor but mostly it glides, smoothly and simply, on the waves of Comissiona's extraordinary life, fascinating the readers without gimmicks or frills. Time jumps and places collide, as the biographer weaves the story from its separate strands, producing a rich multi-hued tapestry, giving a glimpse into the life of a musician of the highest calibre.
At Burcescu's request, Murry Sidlin wrote a "coda" for her book, a conclusion passionate and poetic and utterly musical. Only another conductor could write about his mentor with such poignant sensitivity, providing heart-warming little stories, simultaneously touching and funny, that add to the image of the man he admired.
Anecdotes and performance reviews, political overviews and personal testimonials – they all have made Burcescu's book into what it is: a tribute to Maestro Sergiu Comissiona.
Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer.
Some echoes regarding A ROMANIAN RHAPSODY: The Life of Conductor Sergiu Comissiona :
From Bucharest, B. Elvin, Sergiu' Comissiona's cousin, a writer himself:
"I've read the bio excerpt on the website and I can bear witness to the authenticity of the true-to-life description of the childhood/family circumstances. Very smooth, expressive writing. Congratulations!
B.E.
From Vancouverite-turned-New Yorker violinist Victor Costanzi, after "snatching" the book from his harpist-wife, Rita Costanzi's hands:
Dear Cecilia,
I have begun the book and am really enjoying it. Clear, clean insight; warmth in both conception and delivery, and all around a wonderful perspective on a musician to whom both Rita and I were very close - from a very perceptive and talented woman!
I will be recommending the book to all with whom I speak
Congratulations and thank you for taking on this task which you have performed so well! There are many people who will love having the story of this unique, inspired, complicated and very gifted man. He touched many and Rita and I feel blessed to have had our relationships with him.
With much affection,
Victor
From Conductor Larry Livingston (Professor of Conducting at the University of Southern California, Thornton Orchestras Music Director):
Indeed, the book is beautiful. Bravo!
Thanks again,
Bravissimo!
Larry
From conductor Murry Sidlin (Dean of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music -The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC):
What a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful biography; what dignity it evokes, and how magnetic it is on every page. To browse or study, it is a major attraction!!!!! You succeeded beyond all expectations. I love it. I love it. I will start reading it this evening having anxiously awaited the birth, the laughter, the genius, the sweetness, and debonair-ity of it all. How you captured him, and how his life and environs and history are all palpable on every page! This is exactly what he deserves, and has received. It's a monument for all time. I am so humbled to be a small part of it all.
Thank you!! AMAZING!!!! !!!!! Bravissimo!
murry
...and about a week later:
The deeper I get into the bio, the more I'm absolutely enthralled with your capacity to give a kind of play by play account of everything that happened. It seems you were there and observing on the side. It is a joy - it's really like watching a film. It's just great, great writing and especially biographical writing. Not a moment is dull; not a moment is indifferent. It almost has a novel-like quality - not fictitious - just the way it's progressing. I'm thrilled with and by it and to be a part of it.
m.
From conductor Joel Levine (The Oklahoma City Philharmonic Music Director)
I am very much looking forward to reading it and I'm so impressed that you brought it to completion.Sergiu would have been SO pleased. I know from our last conversations here [LAST, indeed, as they unfortunately proved to be] how much joy this collaboration brought him. Bravo!
Joel
From Lloyd Dykk, music critic with the Vancouver Sun:
Hi Cecilia,
I read the sample chapter and loved it! Beautiful writing and highly evocative. What I call rich, generous writing. Bravo!
Cheers,
Lloyd
and a few days later, after having gotten the book:
... What joy your book is giving me! I went straight to bed with it last night and could hardly stop sampling. I'll eventually settle down and read it in an orderly fashion, but right now it's difficult to stop diving into it at random like a box of ultra-deluxe chocolates. Only this is better than Lindt. I’m sure this book is going to do very well.It's your own writing that comes under scrutiny here, and it's so far above the usual biography style, being sophisticated, witty and sly. Your book has already had the effect of making me melancholy with its picture of a man I wish I'd got to know.
Thanks,
Lloyd.
From Lee Duckles, Vancouver Symphony Cello Principal :
I am absolutely delighted to have this marvelous biography. The wonderful insights, accounts, and reminiscences have stirred joyful memories these past few days. You have performed a great service to the music community - and especially to those of us who knew him.
With deep admiration,
Lee
From Janet Steinberg, Vancouver Symphony Cello Assistant Principal:
I truly appreciate the time and dedication it must have taken to complete the book. We are all very lucky that you have commemorated Maestro Comissiona's life in this way. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Janet
From conductor Toshiyuki Shimada, Music Director of the Yale Symphony Orchestra of
Yale University , Connecticut :
Dear Cecilia,
I got the book and started reading it. How poetic! Difficult to put it down. Beautifully written. Thank you!!!
Toshi
From Charlie Smith, Editor of the Georgia Straight
Hi Cecilia,
I enjoyed reading your book and I can tell that it was a true labour of love. You've done an enormous amount of research and I found it highly educational. You also included many terrific anecdotes. The Nazi period was obviously horrific, but I think I might have been affected even more by the repression that he and his wife endured following their application to immigrate to Israel. I think you also did a great job in explaining the role that Sergiu Comissiona played in reviving the VSO after the Barshai years.
Thanks for your patience and congratulations on all your hard work.
Charlie Smith
Editor
Georgia Straight