Bruckner – Symphony No. 4 Romantic (Celibidache) (2LPs, Warner)

Sergiu Celibidache was without question one of the most important and original conductors in recent memory. He was a perfectionist who disliked what he perceived to be the synthetic sounds created in the modern recording studio, preferring the immediacy of the concert platform and the interaction with a live audience. This Bruckner recording celebrates the extraordinary legacy of his collaboration with the Munchner Philharmoniker, from which he was Musical Director between 1979 and his death in 1996. “One of the greatest Bruckner performances I have ever heard a truly towering act of the re-creative imagination (…). [This performance] is centred in string playing of astonishing depth, eloquence and homogeneity. As with Giulini, it is the viola and cello sections which seem to harbour the very soul of the music. The viola cantilenas in the slow movement (…) are things of rare beauty.”Gramophone LP 1 1. Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major “Romantic”: I. Bewegt, Nicht Zu Schnell (1881 Version) [Live at Philharmonie Am Gasteig, Munich, 1988] 2. Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major “Romantic”: II. Andante Quasi Allegretto (1881 Version) [Live at Philharmonie Am Gasteig, Munich, 1988] LP 2 1. Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major “Romantic”: III. Scherzo. Bewegt – Trio. Nicht Zu Schnell, Keinesfalls Schleppend (1881 Version) [Live at Philharmonie Am Gasteig, Munich, 1988] 2. Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major “Romantic”: IV. Finale. Bewegt, Doch Nicht Zu Schnell (1881 Version) [Live at Philharmonie Am Gasteig, Munich, 1988]