Conducting, as we know it today, did not come into its own until the middle of the 19th century and then with much opposition from composers. Since I began listening to music in any serious way, which was about the time I began to play the piano in earnest, I was fascinated by conductors. In the 170 years since conducting became conducting, there have been many great conductors, masters of their art. Perhaps the greatest of them all is the legendary Romanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache. During his decades of conducting he did not authorize any recordings to be made of his performances. His reason was that only in the live performance with orchestra, conductor and audience in the enclosed chamber of the concert hall could the potential for the transcendental experience inherent in the music be achieved by everyone. As the conductor John Mauceri makes clear in his book, Maestros and Their Music: The Art and Alchemy of Conducting, the digital recordings released after Celibidache's death are "oddly exaggerated and technically unimpressive," but adding, "His concerts, however. were considered life-changing, for those who attended them." The disparity between the digital recording and the live experience is important—perhaps especially as more and more of our lives are experienced digitally. I'm thinking that the difference lies in the mystery of the live experience which becomes lost in the digital world. I'll explore this sense of mystery in a later blog post. For now, I'd like everyone to experience something digitally that only hints at the art, alchemy and mystery of conducting. This is a 1971 recording of Sergiu Celibidache conducting the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Maurice Ravel's Bolero. What is special about this video is that it focuses entirely on the conductor, so we see him as the audience never sees him. This recording is a master class by one of the great masters of conducting. Pay attention to what you experience. Watch if possible, on a full screen.

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy5Ve3338-E