Sergiu Celibidache; Former Munich Philharmonic Leader

Sergiu Celibidache, a Romanian-born conductor, composer and former director of the Munich Philharmonic, has died in exile at 84, the Romanian Embassy said.

Celibidache, who wrote four symphonies, a piano concerto and several suites, died in Paris on Wednesday. He had a heart condition and recently canceled concerts because of frail health.

Bucharest radio interspersed regular programming with Celibidache’s compositions and a recording of him conducting Johann Strauss’ “Tales From the Vienna Woods.”

A director of the Munich Philharmonic since 1979, Celibidache built a name for himself for refusing to visit sound studios because he opposed recording music.

“You cannot press the sublime mystique of music,” he once said, “into something that resembles a pancake.”

Few recordings of his early work exist.

He also taught at Mainz University in Germany, where he lived before moving to Paris several years ago.

Under his leadership, the Munich Philharmonic gained international fame, touring--albeit rarely--Japan, the United States and Eastern Europe.

German President Roman Herzog, in a condolence message to Celibidache’s widow, Joana, called him a genius, a “gifted musician and a great conductor.”

“His interpretations of the great works of musical history were exemplary,” Herzog said. “He led the Munich Philharmonic to world fame, and the audiences thanked him with their great love.”

Celibidache brought the orchestra to Los Angeles in 1989 for performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and UCLA’s Royce Hall. He impressed former Times music critic Martin Bernheimer then as “effusive, witty, charming, richly expressive and decidedly outspoken” with “an almost Falstaffian command of his audience.”

“Celibidache,” the critic wrote, “does not bore the listener.”

The conductor was born in 1912 in the northeastern town of Roman. He started as a dancer and dance teacher before learning to play the piano.

He left Romania in 1936 to study music and composition in Berlin, where he played the piano in a jazz bar to make a living.

In 1945, he was appointed the first conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, where he became known for his tempestuous style.

Celibidache had great success under the Communist regime in Romania, when he came back to direct the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1970s and early ‘80s.

Later, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, known for his aversion to the arts, refused to let Celibidache perform in his native land, prompting Celibidache to say, “How can I be tranquil and make music and [conduct an] orchestra among foreigners, but not in my own country?”

After the collapse of communism in 1989, Celibidache was made honorary director of the Bucharest orchestra.