Firebrand & Philosopher: Celibidache

Norbert Buse's film is a moving portrayal of the legendary conductor. In the making of it he chanced upon a minor coup: Celibidache's curriculum vitae, discovered in the archives of the Musikhochschule in Berlin, and falsified by the conductor in order to enhance his career. But the film's focus is also on the man who seemed always so aloof. For the first time there are interviews with Celibidache's sister and son Serge, whose own film portrait of his father is to be broadcast in extracts as a TV premiere. This is the portrait of a conductor who perhaps more than any other combined analysis and passion, ruthlessness and sympathy - a maestro.