Thanks to Kleiber’s legendary reluctance to produce recordings, each recording is an event, a classic. He could allow himself the luxury of choosing his own repertoire and performers, and of working at a pace that ensured peerless music-making. The results can perhaps be best illustrated with the image of ‘an expert art restorer who clears away centuries of grime to reveal a painting in its pristine glory. Kleiber… strips away the varnish from some of music’s most tradition-encrusted masterworks to expose the vital creation lurking beneath.’ (TIME)
Mozart, Symphony No.36 in C major, K. 425 “Linz”
Elusive, eccentric, willful, capricious… These are some of the milder words used to describe Carlos Kleiber, the man widely considered “the most venerated conductor since Arturo Toscanini” (The New York Times). Born in Berlin but raised in Argentina, Kleiber made his conducting debut in Potsdam in 1954. He has been freelancing for many years now, conducting infrequently but at the world’s leading venues and with the world’s leading ensembles. Thanks to Kleiber’s legendary reluctance to produce recordings, each of his recordings is an event, a classic. He can allow himself the luxury of choosing his own repertoire and performers. The results can perhaps be best illustrated with the image of “an expert art restorer who clears away centuries of grime to reveal a painting in its pristine glory. Kleiber… strips away the varnish from some of music’s most tradition- encrusted masterworks to expose the vital creation lurking beneath.” (TIME)
Mozart, Symphony No.33 in B flat major, K. 319
To watch Carlos Kleiber conduct is to be reminded that the basic channel of communication between conductor and players is above all the body. This emerges with mesmerizing vividness in this concert, recorded live in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz on 21 October 1996.
Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, op.62
To watch Carlos Kleiber conduct is to be reminded that the basic channel of communication between conductor and players is above all the body. This emerges with mesmerizing vividness in this concert, recorded live in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz on 21 October 1996.
Beethoven, Symphony No.4 in B flat major, op.60
Carlos Kleiber’s all too rare concert appearances are always musical occasions to cherish and remember. The vitality and precision of his authoritative gestures never fail to generate excitement and inspire playing of great élan from orchestras throughout the world. When Carlos Kleiber conducts the Concertgebouworkest of Amsterdam in Beethoven, one can expect a performance of intense musical concentration and exceptional expressive power. Carlos Kleiber made this recording with the Dutch orchestra in 1983, conducting Beethoven’s Fourth and Seventh Symphonies. The mesmeric command of this elusive conductor over his musicians is fascinating. With none of the excessive glamor of the star performer, Carlos Kleiber, with meticulous care for detail, creates clear instrumental textures, compelling rhythmic designs and magical moments of fine repose. This is spell-binding music-making. This is vintage Carlos Kleiber.
Der Rosenkavalier
Though the librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal originally described the project as “a comedy for music”, there is also great emotional depth in this stirring portrayal of the delights and torments of love. Enhancing Strauss’s lush, late-romantic music are Otto Schenk’s rich and witty staging and, above all, Carlos Kleiber’s sensitive conducting. Internationally acclaimed singers Felicity Lott, Kurt Moll, Anne Sofie von Otter and Barbara Bonney bring their superb vocal artistry into play to ensure an unforgettable musical experience.
Beethoven, Symphony No.7 in A major, op.92
Carlos Kleiber’s all too rare concert appearances are always musical occasions to cherish and remember. The vitality and precision of his authoritative gestures never fail to generate excitement and inspire playing of great élan from orchestras throughout the world. When Carlos Kleiber conducts the Concertgebouworkest of Amsterdam in Beethoven, one can expect a performance of intense musical concentration and exceptional expressive power. Carlos Kleiber made this recording with the Dutch orchestra in 1983, conducting Beethoven’s Fourth and Seventh Symphonies. The mesmeric command of this elusive conductor over his musicians is fascinating. With none of the excessive glamor of the star performer, Carlos Kleiber, with meticulous care for detail, creates clear instrumental textures, compelling rhythmic designs and magical moments of fine repose. This is spell-binding music-making. This is vintage Carlos Kleiber.
Die Fledermaus (The Bat)
The corks pop and the champagne flows in this sparkling production of Johann Strauss’s world-famous operetta with the ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera. Carlos Kleiber conducts Strauss’s music with a temperament, vigor and sensuality that bring to mind contemporary reports on Johann Strauss’s own conducting style: “His whole body was conducting – the hands, head, eyes, torso and feet of the master”. But Kleiber can also invoke another inspired model and predecessor for his interpretation: in 1894, Gustav Mahler conducted the work at the Hamburg Stadttheater, lavishing his usual care and precision on it and paving its way into the repertoire of all major opera houses.
Brahms, Symphony No.4 in E minor, op.98
To watch Carlos Kleiber conduct is to be reminded that the basic channel of communication between conductor and players is above all the body. This emerges with mesmerizing vividness in this concert, recorded live in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz on 21 October 1996.
Der Rosenkavalier
Though the librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal originally described the project as “a comedy for music”, there is also great emotional depth in this stirring portrayal of the delights and torments of love. Enhancing Strauss’s lush, late-romantic music are Otto Schenk’s rich and witty staging and, above all, Carlos Kleiber’s sensitive conducting. Internationally acclaimed singers Gwyneth Jones, Manfred Jungwirth, Brigitte Fassbaender, Benno Kusche, Lucia Popp and Francisco Araiza bring their superb vocal artistry into play to ensure an unforgettable musical experience.