Starting Thursday, November 13^th, Radio România Muzical will broadcast, every Thursday and Friday at 3:30 p.m., all the recordings of the concerts conducted by Sergiu Celibidache in Romania: unique sound documents preserved in the Radio Romania archives. Below are some impressions after his first concert upon returning to our country, at the helm of the Stockholm Radio Symphony Orchestra, at the Radio Hall, in 1970.

Maestro Celibidache, let's begin with the audience: you've only just parted ways with them a few moments ago. What can you tell us about the reception they gave you on this first concert evening?

It was a warm reception, yes, but I must say I was a little disappointed with the audience. For one thing, they were talking during the concert, and that disturbed me quite a lot in the second movement of Hindemith. There was a lack of concentration, perhaps they're not used to it, perhaps they don't quite know what's going on. It stayed with me, it weighed a bit on my heart.

It's usually said that the Romanian audience is very warm.

That's your opinion.

And very generous.

Well, I didn't really find much warmth, not the kind I expected, nor the level of concentration I was hoping for. Perhaps the music was too demanding, perhaps the program was a little unusual for them, I don't know.

And about the hall itself, the acoustics?

The acoustics are very good, and of course the hall has a limited capacity, it should be a little larger. The sound quality itself is fine, but the shape of the platform is completely wrong. The orchestra sits too deep, and the distance between the back row of winds and the centre of the sound is too great. There are rhythmic interferences, slight delays, the musicians at the back feel a bit behind, because although they play together, the distance between the last wind player and the rest is about twenty meters. Back and forth, that makes forty, and that delay is audible. They didn't think through the shape of the orchestra platform very well. It needs to be redesigned functionally, based on musical criteria, not acoustic ones. Acoustic criteria are not always musical criteria. You have to limit the distance between the various sound sources, to bring them closer, to concentrate the orchestra so that each player can control what they're doing, and especially what others are doing. Here it's difficult: the trombones, for instance, hear the violins coming from far behind. Very often they have to play following the baton rather than naturally, by listening to what's around them. You in the audience probably don't realize that.

Professional secrets… Maestro Celibidache, what are your first impressions after spending these 48 hours back among us, among Romanians?

What strikes me most, and I say this after having seen the whole world, is how kind people are, despite all the hardships. Because, of course, you have difficulties here, just as there are in Western countries. But you'd never know it! There's a gentleness, a courtesy, whether on the street, with the drivers, with the radio staff I met, or at the hotel. Such kindness, it's an inexhaustible source. And that, that's your greatest asset. Our greatest asset, in fact.

Yes, I was just about to add that, ours.

That's what struck me first, because in England, politeness tends to be rather superficial and conventional. In Sweden, people are very cold; in Italy, they're quite superficial as well: they're pleasant, yes, but it's a kind of general pleasantness, impersonal, without real participation: "What do you want? How shall we do it?" and so on. So far, I haven't had a single problem here. I asked the gentlemen from the radio to organize some kind of order service, so that no one would enter during rehearsals, not because I object, but because the orchestra never allows anyone in during rehearsals, and everything was perfectly disciplined. So my first twenty-four hours have truly been a very pleasant surprise. I expected to find people more weighed down by problems, by time, by all the great changes the country is going through, yet you wouldn't know it. They've remained kind, gracious, Latin in temperament, spontaneous, and smiling.

That's your impression?

Yes, and I'm from Iași.

And won't you hold a concert there, in Iași?

I wanted to, but the stage is far too small, only eleven meters wide. We need about 160 square meters. Eleven musicians couldn't come for various reasons, and even so, with the smaller orchestra, we filled every last bit of space. If I have the material (I'll have two months off this summer) I might look at two or three scores. I wanted to perform a Romanian piece, but there was no one to do it with. I couldn't even find a suitable encore. I asked around, there were some pieces by Rogalski, some by Silvestri, but who knows where they are…

And so many young composers are waiting to be performed!

That's your fault, something has to be done about that. Every time I've asked, they've always sent me the same works, quite weak ones, in my opinion, and always the same. I'm not in touch with what's happening musically in Romania; I don't know what's being written. I can't just come for a concert. If I come, it has to be for something constructive. But here… there are entrenched interests. We're a country without a true school system. My greatest achievement, if I may say so, is that I've put a lot of study, a lot of knowledge into everything I do. But here, that can't be applied. To apply it, you'd first have to destroy what exists, perform an operation so complex that, in your situation, there's neither anyone to carry it out nor anyone willing to accept the principle of such an operation. Things have to go back to their foundations. If it were up to me, I'd shut down all the orchestras for three months, give a course in phenomenology to all the musicians and young conductors, a real conducting course, and then reopen the place. But as it is, what can you do? We have Romanian conductors you send abroad who make us look ridiculous. If you were paying people to damage your reputation, you couldn't find better ones! And I say that knowingly and with pain, because I'm Romanian, and I've remained Romanian. Even if I don't see things the way you do politically, that's none of my business, I want Romania to stand out, to make an extraordinary impression everywhere.

And lately, how is our country viewed in Sweden?

With great sympathy. Politically, it has gained a lot, especially after Ceaușescu's recent stance, it has earned respect. Even among Romanians abroad, including politicians, everyone recognizes that. They all support Ceaușescu, because, truly, that's our destiny: to fight our battles in our own way, with those we must.