Ludwig van Beethoven Sergiu Celibidache Muumlnchner Philharmoniker - CELIBIDACHE Mnchner Philharmoniker Beethoven Symphony No 9 (7 tracks) +Album Reviews

Beautiful recording

Santa Fe Listener | 11/28/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You know, Celibidache conducts slow. Real, slow. I can understand another reviewer's complaints about the performance losing its shape. There are also some vocal problems in the last movement: it sounds like someone stepped on Herr Jerusalem's toe at the moment he was concluding his solo. On the other hand, the beauty of the slow movement surpasses every other recording I have heard with the possible exception of the Reiner CSO. Celibidache lets the music breathe and, even after 40 years with this music, I hear things I never heard before."

You haven't heard anything until you heard this one!!!

Janos Gardonyi | Toronto, Ontario Canada | 05/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The late Sergiu Celibidache was probably the greatest and least known conductor to the public due to his general aversion to recordings. Fortunately EMI brought out quite a number of them that attest to his greatness. This is surely one of the best.

Starting with the purely symphonic 1st movement, masterfully controlled, through the rather measured Scherzo of incredible rhytmic precision to the beatific Adagio, rarely shaped so beautifully, we arrive at the 4th movement that bursts out into a miracle.

Words fail me to describe the experience... Four top level soloists sing their heart out. Helen Donath is a heavenly soprano. Siegfried Jerusalem a strong, precise tenor in the march episode.Peter Lika, basso, one of the best ever recorded.

The Munchen Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir are both stunning, excellently balanced and very well recorded.

But full credit must go to the Conductor who creates absolute heaven, an electrically charged reading in this beautifully detailed performance of high exaltation.

Celibidache likes slower tempi, but he is a firm believer in what he is doing and the results prove him right.

Highly recommended. Go, get it while the supplies last.

"

Uncommon

Santa Fe Listener | 01/27/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Once more, Celibidache makes us look at a warhorse in quite a different way. And it's a way that is very much more revelatory and inspiring. I whole-heartedly recommend this recording for the seasoned Beethoven student."

A great Beethoven Ninth

adrian ivan | Medias, SB Romania | 07/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Be prepaired to hear a very special Beethoven 9.Yes, slow, but this only help music breathe.Throw away preconceptions an listen with your mind open. You'll find something that is very hard to find in other places. Warmly recomended.

PS: This rendition is the only one from the ones that I have listened respectful to Beethoven's precise indication regarding tempo in Scherzo."

Two masterful movements, two eccentric ones

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 07/08/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"If you are a new listener to Celibidache and have heard of his eccentrically slow tempos, two movements in this live Beethoven Ninth form Munich will confirm your worst fears. The Scherzo, which Beethoven marks Presto, is taken as a none-too-fast Andante and therefore becomes a complete distortion of the composer's intentions. The same is true for the finale, which isn't uniformly slow but has far too many stretches where Beethoven's sense of triumphant joy is lost. celi wasn't a slack conductor, and even at slow tempos he makes a cogent argument, it just happens to be very off base.

However, the first movement and Adagio. both at 18 min. are within normal tempo range (surprisingly, Solti is just as slow in the first movement and even slower in the Adagio). When the veil of Celi's too-slow tempos is removed, what we find is a real maestro, capable of drama, pacing, and tension, all hallmarks of great Beethoven conducting. I wouldn't say, however, that he is inspired in these two movements; the overal tone is traditional middle-European in the same league as Karl Bohm.

EMI's sonics are fine, but the miking of the Munich chorus is a bit murky, and Beethoven's fiendish vocal writing undoes Siegfried Jerusalem on his climactic high note.

Taken as a whole, this is certainly a worthy addition to the Celibidache legacy, but the entire performance is too idiosyncratic to make the best impression."

Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Sergiu Celibidache, Münchner Philharmoniker :: CELIBIDACHE / Münchner Philharmoniker - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9

CD Details

CD Reviews