Sergiu Celibidache

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Sergiu Celibidache /'ser.ʤju ʧe.li.bi'da.ke/ (June 28, 1912, Roman, Romania - August 14, 1996, Paris) was a Romanian conductor.

Sergiu Celibidache

Celibidache began his studies in music with the piano. After which, he studied music, philosophy and mathematics in Bucharest, Romania and then in Paris. One of the most important influences in his life was his introduction to Martin Steinke, who, being knowledgeable about Buddhism, heavily affected Celibidache's outlook for the rest of his life.

He studied in Berlin and, from 1945 to 1952, he was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He later worked with a string of radio orchestras in Stockholm, Stuttgart and Paris. From 1979 until his death he was principal conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and from 1983 he taught at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

His tenure in Munich was not without controversy. Under his direction, the orchestra was involved in a protracted legal battle to oust principal trombonist Abbie Conant that lasted 12 years, with Conant ultimately prevailing. Ms. Conant alleged sexism in an [internet article] published by her husband, William Osbourne. The controversy is discussed in Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink.

Celibidache disliked recording, preferring the immediacy of live concerts. As a result, very few recordings of his conducting were officially sanctioned during his lifetime, and those that have been released since his death have mainly been of broadcast performances. A feature of many of these recordings is Celibidache's preference for slower speeds than is the norm, sometimes quite extreme. In Celibidache's own view, however, criticism of a recording is irrelevant, as it is not (and cannot) be a critique of the performance but rather of a transcription of it, without the ambience of the moment - for him, a key factor in any musical performance. This has led his recordings to be seen by some as collectors items rather than mainstream releases, 'one offs' rather than reference recordings.http://www.iclassics.com/artistBio?contentId=8371

Notable releases have been his Munich performances of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Schumann, Bach, Fauré and a series of live performances with the London Symphony Orchestra.

References

http://www.iclassics.com/artistBio?contentId=8371

External links

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