Le Jardin de Celibidache

During his lifetime, the originally Rumanian conductor Sergiu Celebidachi (1912-1996) made a reputation of being unapproachable. He loathed interviews and recordings, but on the other hand he was a passionate tutor, and music lovers yearned for his concerts. In Le jardin de Sergiu Celibidache the twilight of this enigmatic and spirited man‘s life has been serenely captured by his son Serge Ioan Celebidachi (Paris, 1968), whose film debut this is. Until his death Celibidache, who was known for his slow tempi (with him Bruckner‘s fourth symphony lasted not 60 but 84 minutes), was the conductor of the Münchener Philharmoniker. The many meditative images of Celibidache in his garden point to his interest in Zen Buddhism and other forms of Eastern philosophy. They also indicate the link between the rhythm in nature and the tempo changes in music, and between sound and timbre. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)