Debussy: Nocturnes; La Mer; Iberia Ravel: Alborada del gracioso; Rapsodie espagnole; Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No. 2; Le Tombeau de Couperin; La Valse. Sergiu Celibidache, SWR Stuttgard Radio Symphony Orchestra. DG 543 194-2 (3-disc set).(Review)

Debussy: Nocturnes; La Mer; Iberia. Ravel: Alborada del gracioso; Rapsodie espagnole; Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No. 2; Le Tombeau de Couperin; La Valse. Sergiu Celibidache, SWR Stuttgard Radio Symphony Orchestra. DG 543 194-2 (3-disc set).

Celibidache is the famous conductor who died recently without ever having released any recordings in his lifetime. In the words of his son, "My father always attempted through music to stimulate the individual's creativity (in the making of it but also in listening to it, both being ways of participating in the creative process), and he therefore, justifiably, feared the CD's inability to do more than repeat itself in a diminished, and thus false, reality, reducing the individual's reactions to a mechanical and paralyzed stillness instead of promoting creative spontaneity." To which I can only add, "Bull feathers!"

The son goes on to say, "According to my father, the correct tempo cannot be determined by a metronome marking but, rather, depends on other criteria in the score and, of course, on the acoustics of a particular hall. This tempo fluctuates according to the complexity of the notes played (and heard) and their epiphenomena (the secondary sounds resulting from the division of the main note after being played on any instrument). In short, the more notes (and consequently more epiphenomena), the more time needed for them to develop and to be `digested' acoustically. Thus, the richer the music, the slower the tempo." This is to ...