I have had little exposure to the recordings of Celibidache. I've never heard the only two recordings he willingly made in a studio, nor have I heard very many of the flood of recordings -- mostly from radio broadcasts -- that entered full spate after his death. (He had famously said that he didn't trust recordings to convey the acoustic experience of a performance as experienced in the hall, and he was exceedingly concerned about fitting a performance to the acoustic of the particular hall in which it took place.) But we have been assaulted with the legend of Celi and I must admit that one could be a bit put off by that, as many speak of him as if he were godlike. Further, I recently saw a DVD that showed him rehearsing an orchestra and I was startled and offended by his condescending manner toward the orchestral musicians.
However ...
However I have found this DVD of a 1967 performance of Bruckner's Ninth Symphony -- with a second-tier orchestra, filmed in black-and-white, and with less than wonderful mono sound -- to be an uplifting experience. And that's not just because that is often the effect of ANY halfway decent performance of this symphony. This performance is something special. It's hard to put my finger on why it is. Tempi are broad -- paradoxically so in the second movement Scherzo -- and within that lingering approach one hears the most amazing but natural-sounding adjustments of pulse and phrasing. One can sense that the orchestra of Radio Turin is playing above itself. There are the occasional raucous, even out-of-tune chords from the brass and some lack of ensemble among the strings, but generally the blending and suavity of tone is quite something to hear. As for the wrenching Adagio finale one can hardly find words to describe it: it simply must be heard to be appreciated. I was not surprised to find that tears were coursing down my face at its conclusion, and while I admit that I am perhaps more emotional about musical experiences than some, I am willing to wager that others will have the same experience as I. This is towering and yet human Bruckner.
Another reviewer has mentioned a hope that more modern Celi DVDs of the Bruckner Ninth will surface and I join him in that hope. I have no knowledge of the existence of other such films, however, and bow to his implied knowledge in that area.
One note: OpusArte have, on their box cover, conveyed the technical aspects of this DVD in tiny print, very difficult to read, and I can easily imagine someone buying this DVD not realizing that it was made forty years ago. To repeat, then: this is a black-and-white film (not color as indicated here at Amazon) made in 1967. Sound is LPCM mono that has been remastered onto two tracks, running time is 62 minutes. It is in 'all-regions' format, meaning that it can be played worldwide.
Scott Morrison
