Sergiu Celibidache started his career with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1945, conducting them over 400 times in an era of postwar hardship, and finished it in 1996 with the Munich Philharmonic, whom he had led to world fame. Uniquely among 20th-century conductors, he polarized the music world both with his musical interpretations and with his personal statements.
For this book, quotations of his were selected that shed light both on his personality and on his approach to music, to the music business and to its principal actors: Celi's refusal to make recordings, his opinions on composers, conductors and soloists, the influence of Zen Buddhism on his understanding of music and his attitude to music critics and audiences are revealed in quotations that give food for thought, open new perspectives, cry out for contradiction, and raise a laugh or two ...
The book is also available in Japanese (ISBN: 4-276-20374-0).