A 33-year-old Romanian called Sergiu Celibidache, nearly unknown to the public, first conducted the Berlin Philharmonic on August 29, 1945, and scored a great success. Since 1936 he had been a student in Berlin, reading philosophy, religion, mathematics, and finally music (at the Berlin Music Academy, where he conducted choral ensembles and chamber groups in 1944). His accession to the conductorship of the Philharmonic was due to a series of lucky coincidences; Furtwängler was awaiting de-Nazification in Switzerland; the orchestra¹s first post-war conductor, Leo Borchard, had been accidentally shot to death by an American sentry on August 23, 1945; none of the well-known conductors was available or acceptable to the four powers occupying Berlin as a successor; and Celibidache, "politically a virgin," as he later characterized himself, won the mantle by default, having already proven his mettle by conducting the Soviet sector Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. This collection chosen from the original master tapes preserved in Deutches Rundfunkarchiv presents the young Celibidarches best performances with BPO during his first three seasons. Extensive liner notes in German and English.

"A high level of interpretative individuality."
--Rob Cowan, Gramophone

CD-1079(4) SERGIU CELIBIDACHE IN BERLIN: THE EARLY YEARS, 1945-1948 CD No.1 (73:26) Beethoven: Leonore Overture No.3 (10 Nov. 1946); Brahms: Symphony No.4 (21 Nov. 1945); Strauss: Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche (31 Aug. 1947). CD No.2 (74:20) Dvorak: concerto in B minor, Op.104 (Tibor de Machula, cello) (18 Nov. 1945); Britten: Sinfonia de Requiem, Op.20 (10 Nov. 1946); Prokofiev: Classical Symphony, Op.25 (6 July 1946). CD No.3 (75:33) Haydn: Symphony No.94 in G Major (28 Sep. 1946); Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture, Op.9 (19 Apr. 1947); Debussy: La Mer (20 Mar. 1948) Debussy: Nocturnes No.2 (10 Nov. 1946); Glière: Concerto for Coloratura Soprano and Orchestra, Op.82: beginning (Erna Berger, soprano) (7 July 1946). CD No.4 (78:52) Glière: Concerto for Coloratura Soprano and Orchestra, Op.82; conclusion (7 July 1946); Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy (25 Mar. 1946); Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet Suite Nr.2, Op.64b (1 Sept. 1946); Busoni: Berceuse élégiaque, Op.42 (24 July 1945). All above with Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, except CD No.4 cut 10 with Berlin Radio Orchestra. First official release of the original master tapes in the collection of Deutches Rundfunkarchiv. AAD UPC #0-17685-10792-4 A co-production with Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv.

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