Search - Dvorak, Franck, Hindemith :: Cello Cto / Sym in D Minor / Mathis De Maler

Sergiu Celibidache was one of the podium's great individualists whose idiosyncratic interpretations drive listeners either to scorn or to reverence. This compilation of broadcasts made during his Swedish years provides material for both views, though most listeners should come away awed by "Celi" at his best. The Sibelius Fifth, for example, is a great performance, incredibly intense within a spacious framework of epic grandeur. The Sibelius Second, while on a less exalted level, is painted on a similarly broad canvas with playing of remarkable concentration and power. The Hindemith, too, is outstanding, Celibidache probing depths few other conductors find in the work. His Strauss is more conventional, affectionate without eclipsing other, more volatile Straussians such as Reiner and Kempe. Since Jacqueline Du Pré's picture shares the cover with the conductor, her fans will be curious about the unlikely combination of the rhapsodic cellist and the refined, even calculating conductor. Sure enough, they tend to go their own ways in the Dvorák, leading to an often exciting, although anything but unified, performance. All in all, this set is one of the most desirable of DG's Celibidache releases. --Dan Davis