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September 2007
****
“March to the Scaffold' may be slow, but this live performance, unfussily filmed, shows Celibidache moulding detail of balance and rubato to great effect. The sound is dry, and there are no extras.”
2010
“1969 is long enough ago in the history of sound and vision to feel primitive compared to today's technology, but Opus Arte has buffed up this black-and-white Italian TV original to some purpose. As has Maestro Celibidache Turin's RAI orchestra, whose every section shows off the care of his characteristically detailed rehearsal. It translates into a reading whose tempi and dynamics have been tailored with the care of a wonderful listener to the band and the hall at hand. This Fantastique is not an especially dramatic or grandstanding performance – only the final pages of the 'Witches' Round' put the players under stress. But it is one where everyone has time and space to play with comfort and expression, to live fully in the rits of Celibidache's graceful, rather miniaturist waltz, to enjoy the pulsing, guitar-like accompaniments as the idéefixe gets under way for the first time in 'Passions', or to dig in with force (but never crudity) to a serious, steady 'March to the Scaffold'. As an interpretation though per se this performance remains, intentionally perhaps, on the page, with the notes and the music viewed through an essentially 20th-century brain, as played smoothly by a 'modern' orchestra. Celibidache is totally uninterested in the dirtiness of some of Berlioz's bass and brass writing, or the Weber-like shrieks of the high wind, or the orchestral opera going on within the symphony. A stylish, detailed note by Misha Donat and sensitive work by RAI's camera director – following the score's high-points without indulging in visual ping-pong – add to the value of a release that promises to be the first of a series.”
September 2007
“…Opus Arte has buffed up this black-and-white Italian TV original to some purpose. As has Maestro Celibidache Turin's RAI orchestra, whose very section shows off the care of his characteristically detailed rehearsal. It translates into a reading whose tempi and dynamics have been tailored with the care of a wonderful listener to the band and the hall at hand.”
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