Customer Reviews

CELIBIDACHE / Münchner Philharmoniker - Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 / Te Deum

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sometimes Celi is just too excessive or eccentric in some way, but for this music he has just what is takes. This is for listeners who want a "religious" experience while listening to their Sevenths. Celi and Bruckner seem to be in psychic communication throughout this work. Or to put it another way, this isn't a concert but a communion. The delicate shadings of the strings, the hushed voicings and *gradual, gradual* diminuendoes. Textures are thick and lush (yet clear!) and tempi are just right. The third movement scherzo may be a bit slow to some, but by slowing down he gets tremendous contrapuntal detail many readings don't have. The last movement climax is thrilling...you'll want to join in the applause at the end--after you recover from the ecstacy of it all.

Great sound too. A superb set that should be in every collection of 19th century Romantic music. Even if you've heard other recordings, you should add this one to your music shelf.

I have 26 recordings of Bruckner's 7th symphony including a hard to find Furtwangler war time live radio broadcast. But none of those recordings come even close to the the EMI Celibidache recording of the work. Never have I heard an orchestra "believe" in what they were doing more than in this recording. The Munich Philharmonic play like they are being directed by a magician. Words just can not explain the wonder and amazement I allways go through when I play this very special disk. Buy it and ask yourself, how did we ever manage to live with the cardboard 1 dimentional outings of the likes of Karajan?

Celi's 7th is spiritual and intense at the same time. As always with him it's an ipnotic, "religious" experience. Not for all,of course.Sadly I'm aware that some listeners simply can't follow his conducting, but I think that they don't like so much the composer too... Personally the EMI set of the Bruckner symphonies with Celibidache is the most important publication of all time. There is only one recording of the 7th that I find superior to this- it's the concert-reunion made by Celi with the Berliner Philharmoniker, but is very rare to find.

Unlike Celi's Bruckner 4, which is stupendous and unforgettable (perhaps the most shattering 'modern' version), the 7th fares less well, and this is a surprise and a puzzle. My suspicion is that Celi was less interested in this, the most popular, and least problematic of the Bruckner symphonies. Hence, this recording, while very interesting as a document of Celi/Munich, is probably less inspiring than his earlier DG version.

Doubtless fascinating to any in-depth student of Celi/Bruckner, this likely will not stand at the level of his Munich 4th or 9th. That said, it is never less than worthy of a close hearing for true Brucknerians and Celibidachians.

Having been impressed with Celibidache's Bruckner Mass No 3 and 9th Symphony with the Stuttgard Orchestra, and with my devotion to Christian monastic theology and spiritual practice, I was looking forward to a spiritual reading of the 7th symphony. Disappointment does not cover my reaction to this cruel, mindless and brutal dissection of a masterpiece. One only has to listen to the first complex section of the first movement as he deconstructs any flow from the music and reduces one's sense of unfolding, harmonious grandeur to an arrogant but clumsy surgeon suddenly, mid-operation, looking at what he has in his hands and not having a clue how it fit together. Any sense of mystical cataphatic-apophatic rhythmic dynamic complexity breaking through to the transcendent infinite unity is non-existent as this ham-fisted and graceless approach pulls apart one's experience of the sublime. One may learn about tendons by dissecting frogs, but little about its spiritual place in life, and therefore the spiritual life of the world. If one wishes for a tedious, mundane if somewhat gross dissection of beauty and grace, I suppose this is the recording to go for.

I have thrown away very few classical recordings, and when I have a bad reaction usually think it my own fault, and try to listen again over a course of years. After years of trying with this and Menuhin's Brandenburg Concertos, I took great pleasure in smashing them to pieces with a ball-peen hammer.

From memory I quite enjoyed the Te Deum, but detested the 7th so much it never stood a chance.