Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Antonin Dvorak, Franz Joseph Haydn :: Sergiu Celibidache In Berlin: The Early Years, 1945-1948, Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv

Ferociously Passionate Performances

T. Beers | Arlington, Virginia United States | 02/06/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sergiu Celibidache was one of the most famous unheard conductors in the world. He notoriously detested the clinical sterility of the recording studio (his opinion), so unless you lived in a city where he regularly gave concerts, your chances of hearing his work were almost nil. Oddly enough, he seldom banned the radio broadcast of his concerts, and DG and EMI have issued handsome editions of fifty or more CDs dating from Celi's later years conducting radio orchestras in Stockholm and Stuttgart, as well as the Munich Philharmonic. These performances reflect a unique Zen-influenced aesthetic that demanded that music performance take into account the living factors of concert hall sound production. As a result, they exhibit a dedication to slow tempi that allow the conductor to explore all the various layers of performance components that make up a symphonic score. And not a few people are put off by such an approach, where a Beethoven 'Pastorale' symphony can last the better part of an hour. But the performances on these Music and Arts CDs present a picture of a much younger Celi, the barely experienced young man in his twenties who was asked to take over the Berlin Philharmonic, no less, at the end of the Second World War. (This was at a time when many German conductors, including Furtwaengler, were banned from performing while allied authorities investigated their activities during the Nazi years.) The young Celibidache is revealed to be a passionate, almost reckless, orchestra leader whose self-evident gifts for highly dramatic music-making come across vividly in these brilliantly-remastered CDs. In later years, an embarassed Celibidache would repudiate his high-octane Berlin performances as the work of an undisciplined wild man. But it's hard to resist the sheer musical excitement produced by these CDs. (And it's important to remember that the young conductor we meet here impressed a lot of other musicians at that time, including Furtwaengler.) Some of these performances have appeared in other CD editions, but none of those boasts the amazingly life-like, natural sound of these M&A CDs. M&A has a licensing arrangement with the German Radio Archive and so has access to original master tapes. In the 1940s, Germany was the world leader in tape technology. While no one will mistake these monophonic recordings for contemporary digital stereo productions, the set fully merits five stars just the same: there is no way that these recordings sound like they are almost 60 years old ... and they are!"

Let Us Sing Joyfully to the Lord!

D. J. Zabriskie | Park Ridge, NJ USA | 01/11/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Put aside your prejudices about the late 1940's sound for a moment, gentle friend, and let us embark together on a musical
journey full of wonders and magic.
Sergiu Celibidache is the most legendary "unknown" conductor of the 20th Century. His refusal to make commercial recordings, combined with his uncompromising attitudes towards music making enforced the life of nomadic guest conductor on him for most of his career. But for those Europeans who were fortunate enough to hear him in the concert hall or on the radio, his performances
achieved mythic status. These 4 CD's, covering a good range of
the "basic repetoire" give ample reason as to why.
Celibidache's general method here is to take softer passages at
a slow, deliberate pace, allowing him ample space to sculpt each
phrase and each orchestral detail with infinite care. He slams
the forte's home with an accellerando that's like a good shot of adrenaline, yeilding ferocious climaxes. In the hands of a lesser conductor, these are mere technical tricks, but Celibidache's musical instincts are so uncanny and unerring as to achieve the most remarkable results. You will never hear a
performance of the Brahms 4th Symphony which sings so beautifully
throughout, particularly the final movement, where the point is
architecture, not cantabile. Celibidache demonstrates the two can live quite happily together here.
Likewise, Celibidache treats the humor in "Till Eulenspiegel" more as manic, mischievous glee, which is thoroughly appropriate.
Why hasn't any other conductor done this?
The juxtapositions of Prokofiev's "Classical Symphony" with Haydn's "Surprise Symphony" and Tchiakovsky's and Prokofiev's
takes on "Romeo and Juliet" prove most instructive. In the former case, Celibidache eschews the usual vision of Prokofiev
parodying Haydn in favor of a view of Prokofiev play-acting Haydn. This is altogether different. Likewise, Tchiakovsky's
"Romeo and Juliet" is heart-rendingly romantic, Prokofiev's is
heart-rendingly tragic.
Above all, it is the SINGING quality of this music that makes it stand apart. The Debussy, Britten and Busoni performances are
more than examplary... they are revelations!
This set reveals that it was Celibidache, not Furtwangler, who was the true antipode to Toscanini, as THE ultimate Romantic
conductor. The music here is unique, personal and passionate
beyond any other performances of these pieces.
You will NOT be disappointed."