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Carlos Kleiber has died July 19 2004
Carlos Kleiber, renowned for both his formidable interpretations of music and his often eccentric and reclusive nature, has died aged 74.
For the last years of his life he refused to record (indeed, hardly ever performed) and was known to cancel at short notice. He never hired an agent, never gave an interview, and conducted all contractual negotiations himself. It was joked that he only conducted when his freezer was empty – though on one rare return to the podium he was lured back by the fee of an Audi car.
But when he did work, Kleiber showed an unstinting devotion in the pursuit of excellence. The results were some of the most powerful, emotional and insightful performances of the last century.
His discography is slight, containing just a handful of symphonies, including Beethoven and Brahms, and a tiny number of operas, including Der Rosenkavalier and Tristan und Isolde. Yet if the question is one of quality not quantity, Kleiber’s discography is rich indeed. His recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No 5 with the Vienna Philharmonic, which became a legendary recording almost over night, was described in Gramophone as ‘one of the most articulate and incandescent Beethoven Fifths I have ever heard’. An entirely different sort of work, Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus also attracted superlatives from its Gramophone reviewer, who said in 1986: ‘Ten years after its original release there is still no recording of Die Fledermaus that, for me, matches this one for the compelling freshness of its conductor’s interpretation.’
Carlos Kleiber was born in 1930, an Austrian of German birth and the son of conductor Erich Kleiber. He held a number of appointments at various European opera houses, including répétiteur of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf from 1956, becoming its conductor two years later. He worked at the Zürich Opera from 1964-66, and was first Kapellmeister at the Württembergisches Staatstheater in Stuttgart for three years from 1966. From 1968, for ten years, he had a guest contract at the Staatsoper in Munich.
Career milestones included débuts with the Vienna Staatsoper in 1973 and Bayreuth in 1974, both with Tristan und Isolde; Royal Opera House and La Scala débuts in 1974 with Der Rosenkavalier; and débuts with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1982, and the New York Met in 1988. He conducted the Vienna Philharmonic New Year concerts in 1989 and 1992.
He was the first choice of the Berlin Philharmonic to succeed Herbert von Karajan, but turned down the offer.
路透社
LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Austrian-Argentine conductor Carlos Kleiber， dubbed one of the greatest and most difficult conductors of his time， died aged 74 last week， Austrian state television reported on Monday.
Kleiber was known as a brilliant conductor who could inspire an orchestra
but also as an enfant terrible who would call off performances at the
last minute.
Over the years his appearances became rarer and he last conducted in
February 1999. He never granted interviews.
"Among music experts as well as the public， Kleiber was counted
among the most important conductors of the 20th century，" Austrian
President Heinz Fischer said.
Kleiber， who lived in Munich， died on July 13 in Slovenia， the homeland
of his mother and his late wife， Austrian television ORF quoted Slovenia’s
news agency STA as saying. He was buried on Saturday in the Slovenian
village of Konjsic.
Kleiber was born on July 3， 1930， in Berlin， the son of Erich Kleiber， an Austrian-Argentine who conducted the premier of Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck in 1924 and directed some of the world’s great orchestras.
The family moved to Argentina in 1935 to flee Nazi rule and Kleiber
started his musical training in Buenos Aires in 1950.
He first conducted in 1952 in La Plata and a year later for the first
time in Europe at Munich’s Gaertnerplatztheater.
From 1968 to 1973 he worked under contract at the Bavarian State Opera.
But he preferred to roam and increasingly made only individual guest
appearances in places like Vienna， London and Milan.
His last public concert appearance was in February 1999 in Cagliari
on the island of Sardinia， where he conducted Beethoven’s Fourth and
Seventh symphonies.
[此贴子已经被作者于2004-7-21 0:13:11编辑过]
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发表于 2004-7-20 13:10
楼主
发表于 2004-7-20 21:03
发表于 2004-7-20 22:29
