I too went and attended the conductor's course with Maestro Celibidache.
He totally changed my perception of music. His music making was the ultimate transcendence for me, justified in that he could create this phenominal experience every time he performed. How many conductors or musicians do you know, that can handle this level of mastery and perfection, and get there from the begining of every single performance? I was inflamed by his music making and today, in every piece of music I hear or perform, it is measured with his standards.
I remember an insident where a new conducting student went to conduct the Philharmonic, and he worked his way through the piece much too laboriously in the second movement of a Schubert symphony. After a while Chelibidache stopped him and said: he was working too hard and he wanted to show the student how little effort it took. Maestro went up on the podium, raised his baton, and the minute the orchestra started to play, he sort of laid the baton on the air, floating quietly, hardly moving an inch, there was no beat. Nothing! And out of this quiet: magic appeared -- the orchestra played heavenly music with angelic touch of bow and divine serenity. I cannot find the right words to describe this.
Thank you, Maestro Celibidache, for all the transcending experiences you have given people who worked with you and the many for whom you have open their hearts to the highest realm of music, making it the furthest reaching of all art forms.
From one of your greatest admirers.