Carlos Kleiber

Karl Ludwig Bonifacius (Carlos) Kleiber ( Berlin , July 3 1930 - Konjšica in Litija , July 13 2004 ) was an Austrian conductor . He was born in Germany, where he spent his childhood years. He had first Austrian, then the Argentine and from 1980 (probably) re-Austrian nationality . Between 1935 and 1953 he lived in Argentina and then again until his death in Germany. ==[Life  edit ] == Carlos Kleiber was the son of Erich Kleiber, who also is considered a great conductor. The family week off to Argentina in 1935 to the Nazi regime to escape. Here grew Carlos Kleiber and he took his first steps into the world of classical music .

At the insistence of his father Kleiber began studying chemistry in Zurich, but he broke it off for the music. His conducting career began in 1952 in the opera theater of La Plata . A year later he made ​​his European debut in Munich . Kleiber led renowned opera houses, but contracts were always short-lived. He preferred to go his own way. He was the first choice of the Berliner Philharmoniker to Herbert von Karajan to follow, but he hit off the offer.

He was also associated with Opera Potsdam, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf (1956-1964), the Opera of Zurich (1964-1966), the Staatsoper Stuttgart (from 1966) and the Bayerische Staatsoper inMunich (from 1968). He conducted Tristan und Isolde in his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1973 and the following year at the Bayreuth Festival . Kleiber appeared as guest conductor at include Vienna Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra .

Highlights in Kleibers work includes performances of the opera Tristan und Isolde by Wagner , Otello by Verdi and Carmen by Bizet . In 1989 and 1992 he conducted the traditional New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic at the Vienna Musikverein . In 1994, he experienced unprecedented triumphs with productions of Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss in Vienna . This would be his last opera. His last orchestra concert was in February 1999, when he was in Cagliari on Sardinia, the Fourth and the Seventh Symphony of Beethoven conducted.

His last years Kleiber led a secluded life in the vicinity of Munich. He died on July 13, 2004 in the Slovenian Konjšica, after a long illness. His remains were interred in the crypt where his Slovenian wife Stanislava Brezovar buried. He left behind two children, his son Marko and daughter Lilian. ==[Rating  edit ] == Kleiber, which rarely gave interviews, was known as a tough, nervous, witty, unpredictable and perfectionist, but was highly praised for its fidelity to the intentions of the composers whose work he performed. Some even consider him the best conductor of all time. With colleagues, he was widely praised as a genius, though they felt it was a pity that he played so little with his enormous talent. In early 2011 the British music magazine BBC Music 100 leading conductors from around the world who was the most inspiring example for them. Carlos Kleiber was the first off the bus, before Leonard Bernstein , Claudio Abbado and Herbert von Karajan .

Kleiber was not willing to compromise and performed a job only if he was satisfied with the rehearsals and performances of the musicians. That led easily to tensions. Repeatedly, he performances at the last minute for unknown reasons not to continue, but he stayed in all the major opera houses a welcome guest. He rarely occurred because he hated the "industrial madness", as he called it, of the international dirigentendom.When he needed money or a car, he let himself and invite princely pay for some concerts.

Much of the work of Carlos Kleiber was never recorded on tape, but the concerts that have been recorded are considered very high. The recordings of Beethoven are among the best and - through idiosyncraticchoices pace - even the most special of all time.

Carlos Kleiber received numerous awards, including the Golden Baton at La Scala in Milan .