Cast
Sergiu Celibidache — Conductor
Program notes
An initiation to the mysteries of orchestra conducting and to the music of Anton Bruckner by Sergiu Celibidache, a conductor who is larger than life.
"No, no, no!" That's how Sergiu Celibidache describes a rehearsal: only "no," never "yes." We see him at work in 1991 with "his" Munich Philharmonic Orchestra (he was the musical director from 1979 until his death in 1996), tirelessly rehearsing each measure, each detail of the Adagio of Anton Bruckner's Ninth Symphony.
He has conducted this composition at least 2000 times, he claims, he knows it better than anyone else and amazingly works on it without a score: he always knows exactly where each musician is. But that's not enough, it's never enough.
This exceptional document initiates us to the "Celibidachian" mysteries of orchestra conducting and, in the process, to Bruckner's music about which the Romanian conductor talks abundantly. Even though he thinks "Bruckner cannot be understood. But he may be experienced. And when you experience him, there is something of his grandeur that comes to each one of us." That is certain.
