Sergiu

Fourteen CD box set. 2012 marks the centenary of maestro Sergiù Celibidache's birth. Celibidache was without question one of the most important and original conductors in recent memory. He was a perfectionist who disliked what he perceived to be the synthetic sounds created in the modern recording studio, preferring the immediacy of the concert platform and the interaction with a live audience.

Recorded live in April 1980, Tokyo. I must confess that I decided to share this one in spite of my pathetic internet connection since it could be a valuable source on Irvine Arditti no more than a couple of months before his 'graduation'.
The performance in this live is of course of good quality, though some rough brass playing is recognised in the opening of Mussorgsky.

This 49-CD set, which reflects (though not exclusively) Celibidache’s particular dedication to Austro-German repertoire, includes seven of Bruckner’s symphonies in interpretations of characteristic expansiveness and spirituality.

The chosen repertoire on the album is Gustav Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, recorded 30 June 1983 at the Herkulessaal der Residenz, Munich and Richard Strauss’ Tod und Verklärung, recorded on 17 February 1979 also at the Herkulessaal der Residenz, Munich. For a long time, Tod und Verklärung was the most popular of Richard Strauss’s early tone poems. It contains a wide range of memorable motifs subtly differentiated with the result that its music recurs whenever there is mention of death or transfiguration in Strauss’ later output.

Sergiu Celibidache’s relationship with the M?nchner Philharmoniker lasted from 1979 until the Romanian-born conductor’s death in 1996. Believing in unusually lengthy, detailed rehearsals and in achieving a state of transcendence in the concert hall, Celibidache moulded the Bavarian orchestra into an ensemble to rival the Berliner Philharmoniker, which he had conducted more than 400 times in the years following World War II. This 49-CD set, which reflects (though not exclusively) Celibidache’s particular dedication to Austro-German repertoire, includes seven of Bruckner’s symphonies in interpretations of characteristic expansiveness and spirituality.

Another digital feature from the Warner Classics live series of Celibidache & The Münich Philharmonie of Bruckner's 7th & 9th Symphony.

Another digital feature from the Warner Classics live series of Celibidache & The Münich Philharmonie of Bruckner's 5th & 8th Symphony.