Sergiu Celibidache Great Cond [Import]

Those familiar with my reviews on Amazon know of my love for the "Great Conductors of the 20th Century" series. With a recent batch of six releases (Reiner, Toscanini, Furtwangler, Karajan, Kubelik and this title of Celibidache), the series now has a total of 40 volumes. And while the "Great Conductors" website claims that 60 releases will eventually be made, it is hard to imagine that this series is not concluding with these six big name conductors. What is also a shame is that while all of these releases boast "rare and previously unreleased material on CD," most of the last six sets have, inevitably I suppose because of these conductors' popularity, lots of material that has been readily available on disc for years.

Fortunately, I haven't collected Celibidache recordings as I have the other five so for once there is nothing on this title to duplicate my collection (amen!). Frankly, I have steered away from Celibidache not because I don't appreciate his art or his opinion that classical music is best heard in live settings and not via studio recordings on home stereos, but because I really don't know where to begin with the man. I am not the type of collector (nor do I ever hope to be) who has umpteen live performances of a given conductor on my shelves, and to really appreciate Celibidache, it seems that is who you would have to be. Personally, I find this quite ironic, since the conductor would most certainly frown upon the practice of listeners repeatedly analyzing past performances via recorded media, but alas what other choice is there after his passing in 1996.

I will not even begin to comment on the CD's live selections as I have no idea whether these represent the conductor's best efforts -- simply put they are enjoyable. But what I liked best of all were the selections capturing him in rare early studio performances -- 1948 accounts of Mozart's 25th Symphony, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Excerpts and Prokofiev's "Classical," and a Mendelssohn "Italian" from 1953. (It was in that same year that Celibidache made his very last studio recording -- the Brahms Violin Concerto with Ida Haendel, an amazing rendition thankfully available on CD from Testament.) I may be in the minority, but for me, these are the set's highlights. In all, the "Great Conductors of the 20th Century" has been a delightful, if not definitive series. Here's hoping that IMG/EMI do indeed stay with their original plans for 60 titles by releasing another 20 -- Bernstein, Davis, Dorati, Galliera, Haitink, Jochum, Kertesz, Kondrashin, Krips, Lehmann, Leinsdorf, Marriner, Martinon, Paray, Sargent, Sawallisch, Silvestri, Steinberg, Solti and Stock would all be deserving recipients.

When I was in college in the mid-Sixties tales circulated about a mysterious great conductor who refused to make records and never traveled to the United States. In addition, it was said that Sergiu Celibidache had conducted the Berlin Phil. more htan 400 times after WW II (the Allies selected him because of his impeccable anti-Nazi past) but then disappeared overnight, never to conduct that orchestra again. As it happens, this was all true. Now that Celibidache is dead, his family has sanctioned dozens of live recordings, none from the studio, spanning his legendary career.

Alas, nothing even remotely intriguing is represented here. EMI choces, quqite unfairly, not to include any of its many Celibidache performances of Bruckner, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and other signature composers. Instead we have a batch of fair-to-middling mono recordings from the Berlin Phil. phase, all made before Karajan was appointed music director in 1954 and Celibidache stalked off in a huff, vowing never to make a commerical recording again.

The rest of this set is made up of oddments from Celibidache's sojourn among the provincial radio orchestras of Germany and Scandinavia. What we don't get is anything from his 15-year leadership of the Munich Phil, beginning in 1979 when he was already 67. By then he had developed his famous, quasi-mystical style of very, very slow tempos and breathlessly elongated phrasing.

So what's the point? I won't even bother to critique the performances here, since all are uncharacteristic. The best byy far are the four lively Johann Strauss selections at the end of CD 2, recorded in concert with the Danish Natl. Sym. Orch. in 1970. (One wonders why the compilers thought anyone would be interested in the selections from the unknown Hilding Rosenberg and Heinz Tiessen, or composers like Berwald and Nielsen, who were insignificant in this conductor's career.)

Amazon has been remiss in not lsiting the tracks, which are given by Tower Records as follows:

1. Maskarade, FS 39: Overture

Composer: Carl Nielsen (1865 - 1931)

Written: 1904-1906

Ensemble: Danish National Radio Symphony

2. Symphony no 3 in C major "Singuliere"

Composer: Franz Berwald (1796 - 1868)

Written: 1845

Ensemble: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

3. Symphony no 4 in A major, Op. 90 "Italian"

Composer: Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)

Written: 1833

Ensemble: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

4. Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a: no 2, March

Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)

Written: 1892

Ensemble: London Philharmonic Orchestra

5. Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a: no 4, Trepak

Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)

Written: 1892

Ensemble: London Philharmonic Orchestra

6. Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a: no 6, Chinese Dance

Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)

Written: 1892

Ensemble: London Philharmonic Orchestra

7. Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a: no 7, Dance of the Reeds

Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)

Written: 1892

Ensemble: London Philharmonic Orchestra

8. Marionettes: Overture

Composer: Hilding Rosenberg (1892 - 1985)

Written: 1939

Ensemble: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

9. Hamlet Suite, Op. 30

Composer: Heinz Tiessen

Written: 1922

Ensemble: Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra

10. Symphony no 25 in G minor, K 183 (173dB)

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

Written: 1773

Ensemble: London Philharmonic Orchestra

11. Symphony no 1 in D major, Op. 25 "Classical"

Composer: Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953)

Written: 1916-1917

Ensemble: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

12. Die Fledermaus: Overture

Composer: Johann Strauss Jr. (1825 - 1899)

Written: 1874

Ensemble: Danish National Radio Symphony

13. Annen Polka, Op. 117

Composer: Johann Strauss Sr. (1804 - 1849)

Ensemble: Danish National Radio Symphony

14. Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka, Op. 214

Composer: Johann Strauss Jr. (1825 - 1899)

Ensemble: Danish National Radio Symphony

15. Radetzky March, Op. 228

Composer: Johann Strauss Sr. (1804 - 1849)

Ensemble: Danish National Radio Symphony

› Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews  3.5 out of 5 stars