Anton Bruckner Sergiu Celibidache Muumlnchner Philharmoniker - CELIBIDACHE Mnchner Philharmoniker Bruckner Symphony No 6 (6 tracks) +Album Reviews

A magnificent musical experience

Jim Rickman | Sudbury, MA USA | 10/03/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I heard Bruckner for the first time at a Friday afternoon Boston Symphony Orchestra concert more than 30 years ago when this symphony was performed. No interpretaion of this symphony since then has been able to quite match the feelings I had then, when I was introduced to Bruckner with, for me, his most beautiful symphony. But when I listened to Celibidache's interpretation here on this CD, I knew I was listening to one of the greatest performances of Bruckner ever. This is truly a soul-stirring event. Celibidache knew how to perform Bruckner! For me, this is the definitive Bruckner 6th! A beautiful and truly mountain-top revelation of a performance."

Brilliant and frustrating

Jim Rickman | 01/30/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This performance contains 3/4ths of the best Bruckner 6th (and indeed some of the very best Bruckner) I have ever heard. The first three movements are, to my ears, perfection. In particular, Celibidache takes an enormous risk with the Adagio and makes it pay off. Who else would dare to stretch out this ethereal music to such lengths? The committed playing of the orchestra holds the movement together gloriously in what could have been a disaster in less commited hands. This movement alone is an experience. Unfortunately, the 4th movement is not at the same inspired level of the first three movements. The playing is just as committed, but I think that the tempo is too fast, especially coming off of what he accomplished with the adagio. It's not that his timing is much quicker than other conductors here, in fact he is more leisurely than the norm. It's just that in comparison with the tension built up in the prior movements,the finale to my ears lets up a bit and is not the overwhelming majestic culmination one would hope for. Regardless of my feelings on the finale, this remains one of my most treasured disks and I cannot possibly think of another performance that has so captured the essence and timelesness of Bruckner than the first three movements of this gem. I give it 4 out of 5 stars because it was one movement away from my ultimate Brucner experience."

Bruckner's 6th Left Me Stunned In My Seat

cabernet | Chicago, IL USA | 07/09/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard this piece performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra last year. I attended a pre-concert lecture about Bruckner and learned that he spent most of his life composing for and playing the Organ. Nothing is quite as inspiring as sitting in a cathedral listing to an Organ concert. Even knowing this could not prepare me for what I was about to hear.Somehow Bruckner brought the power and inspiration of the Organ to this symphony. I wanted the orchestra to wait a few minutes while I and the rest of the audience had enough time to digest the first movement. By the end of the symphony, I was left in my seat, overwhelmed by what I had just heard. I was left in the same condition after listening to this recording. My neighbors in my apartment building have become fans of Bruckner, due in part to me cranking up my stereo during the first movement. I guarantee you won't be able to resist turning up your stereo either if you get this recording."

A full flavored Bruckner!

cabernet | 06/17/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been a Bruckner fan since, when I was 17, I bought the DG Karajan/BPO version of the 3rd on a digital LP. A couple of years later I received the 6th and the 2nd with the same interpreters/label for Christmas and I was immediately "hooked" on the 6th, which I listened to VERY often. Nonetheless I was not completely satisfied with the Karajan version, because I felt he did not "get" the symphony completely (specially the last movement) although the 1st and 2nd movements were played quite movingly. So I went on a 'quest for a better 6th', and my first try was Gunter Wand (due to the great reviewers he was getting at the time) - I was somewhat disappointed because, even though it was more thoughtful, I felt they did'nt quite "get" it either. So discouraged from heeding the reviews I did not try another version till ~ 2 years ago when I came across this one by Celibidache -a conductor who I had only heard mentioned "in passing" and knew nothing about; yet there was a big buzz about him at the time. This time I hit the jackpot!! This is not only very interesting "episodic" music, like some of the other great conductors interpret it, it is a profound experience somewhat like the reading of an epic story, such as the Illiad or the Mahabaratha, but be warned you have to give it your FULL attention. In other versions, such as Karajan's, you can let the music go into the background at times and you will not loose the gist of it because he exagerates the climaxes and special episodes so that you are "forced" to get a good sketch of the Symphony. With Celibidache you have to sit confortably with a good long hour at your disposal and start "meditating" with the music. He approaches Bruckner with such respect, nay reverence, that on occasions you feel that the orchestra has become a gigantic church organ on which Bruckner is extempoirising a song of praise to God and the Universe!!"

An essential Celibidache CD and a great Bruckner Sixth

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 05/14/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I find myself calling this live Bruckner Sixth from Nov. 1991, a must-listen, when I don't think I've ever had that feeling about any other celibidache recording. Unless you already buy into the mystique surrounding this mysterious figure, it's advisable to skip the comments about Buddhism (a Zen master said that Celi's conducting was 'free music through free hands"), and the semi-devotional notes from his son. The fact that the father forbade any commercial releases of his concerts makes it seem that the family's posthumous haste to profit from them after his death a bit, um, less than altruistic.

The fact is that EMI and DG rushed to release dozens of Celi recordings without much care about which were truly stunning. This one is. The Munich Phil. seems fired up, and for once the tempos are within reason, except for the extremely extended Adagio. But pace isn't the issue here. One senses immediately that the conductor "gets" this problematic work, infusing every bar with drama, surprise, and vibrant life. It's so rare to hear anything like a vibrant Bruckner performance that this one really lights up the sky.

My problem with Celibidache has been that he is monochromatic. Like Giulini, a greater conductor who also went into a draggy "spiritual" phase at the end, Celibidache applied one tonal color to everything, a static, rarefied, eyes-toward-heaven rapture (Zen heaven in this case, if that's possible). If you weren't part of his congregation, the whole thing seems to lack variety and color.

Such is eminently not the case here. Celi is alert to every possible change in mood and color, and in addition his reverential treatment of the Adagio works because the alertness remains -- extremely slow music can, and should, be just as vibrant as fast music. There's no sag in the phrasing; indeed, this feels like a genuine state of rapture, which I think was Bruckner's own state when he composed such sublime music. On the whole dynamics are louder and more forceful than usual with this conductor, but he never allows the brass to blare, and Bruckner's apotheoses aren't volcanic and jarring. Gott sei dank.

I have a short list of successful Bruckner Sixths: the classic Klemperer on EMI, Haitink on Profil (a late live recording), and surprisingly, Eschenbach on Koch International. As a curiosity, one might also check out a live Bernstein performance in an omnibus collection released by the New York Phil. But for sheer beauty, warmth, emotional impact, and "rightness," this Celibidache reading is in a class of its own."

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