Intermezzo

Carlos Kleiber is the greatest

 

Carlos Kleiber has been named the greatest conductor of all time in the April issue of BBC Music Magazine. In a poll, 100 conductors including Sir Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Valery Gergiev and Mariss Jansons were asked to vote for their favourite.

Of the seven living conductors named, the highest is Claudio Abbado, who comes in at number 3.

Of course comparisons are odious, polls are pointless, etc - and it's hard to take seriously any list that places Rattle ahead of Furtwängler - but still it's interesting to see who the maestros themselves really rate.

The full list

1. Carlos Kleiber (1930-2004) Austrian
2. Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) American
3. Claudio Abbado (b1933) Italian
4. Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) Austrian
5. Nikolaus Harnoncourt (b1929) Austrian
6. Sir Simon Rattle (b 1955) British
7. Wilhelm Furtwängler (1896-1954)
8. Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) Italian
9. Pierre Boulez (b1925) French
10. Carlo Maria Giulini (1914-2005) Italian
11. Sir John Eliot Gardiner (b1943) British
12. Sir John Barbirolli (1899-1970) British
13. Terenc Fricsay (1914-1963) Hungarian
14. George Szell (1897-1970) Hungarian
15. Bernard Haitink (b1929) Dutch
16. Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) French
17. Yevgeny Mravinsky (1903-1988) Russian
18. Sir Colin Davis (b1927) British
19. Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) British
20. Sir Charles Mackerras (1925-2010) Australian

 

Carlos Kleiber revealed

A subtitled version of the documentary Spuren ins Nichts - Der Dirigent Carlos Kleiber (first broadcast on Austrian TV last year) recently popped up on YouTube. The film draws on rare archive footage and the memories of friends and colleagues such as Plácido Domingo, Michael Gielen, Brigitte Fassbaender and Otto Schenk to construct a portrait of the enigmatic maestro. Here it is:

remaining parts over the page:

Ioan Holender leaves Vienna, takes Placido with him

With the final fugue from Falstaff, Tutto nel mondo è burla, sung by Leo Nucci, the gala celebrating the end of Ioan Holender's 19 year reign over the Vienna State Opera came to a fitting conclusion last night, more than five hours after it began.

Despite his entertainingly big gob and an equally engaging propensity for picking fights ("I wouldn't have liked myself as a boss", he told an interviewer recently), the 75 year old Holender has amassed a truly remarkable number of friends and supporters over the years. 

The 52 singers and 12 conductors who took part in the gala (all of whom contributed their services free, to raise money for social projects in Moldova) included Placido Domingo, Anna Netrebko, Simon Keenlyside, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Stefania Bonfadelli, Barbara Frittoli, Natalie Dessay, Michael Schade, Stephen Gould, Thomas Quasthoff, Ramon Vargas, Thomas Hampson, Diana Damrau, Waltraud Meier, Johan Botha, Piotr Beczala, Angela Denoke, Genia Kuhmeier, Adrianne Pieczonka, Krassimira Stoyanova, Simone Young, Bertrand de Billy, Franz Welser- Möst, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta and Antonio Pappano.

Phew.

And what would a night at the opera be without a cancellation or three? Jose Cura, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo and Elina Garanca were all forced to drop out due to sickness.

A valiant dash from the Simon Boccanegra dress rehearsal at Covent Garden was not enough to get Placido Domingo, Anna Netrebko, Antonio Pappano, Simon Keenlyside and Ferruccio Furlanetto there on time. Some last-minute schedule shuffling was required when their plane landed late, delaying the start of the event and forcing Placido's Walküre extract to be moved from the first to the second half. The latecomers experienced the thrill of a police escort with flashing lights to accompany the final leg of their marathon journey.

Highlights included Piotr Beczala singing Werther, Ferruccio Furlanetto with Philip 's aria from Don Carlos, Johan Botha with the Gralserzählung from Lohengrin and Simon Keenlyside singing Macbeth. Anna Netrebko sported a favourite frock for her exuberantly delivered Manon scene, one of the best-received performances of the night.

 

***********   MANY more photos over page  ************

rare Carlos Kleiber footage from Bayreuth

Shortly before completing his wonderful 1982 recording of Tristan und Isolde, something upset the nervy Carlos Kleiber, and he stormed out, never to enter a studio again in his remaining 22 years.

But even the magic captured then can't match the febrile intensity of his 1974 live recording from Bayreuth. How did he achieve it?

Recently-uncovered film footage from the Bayreuth pit may provide a clue. Though the picture is grained to a ghost and the sound quality appalling, you can see - and hear - the music utterly transforming and transporting the maestro.

There are six clips - the most revealing is the last (Liebestod).

Act.1 - Prelude:

 

Shortly before completing his wonderful 1982 recording of Tristan und Isolde, something upset the nervy Carlos Kleiber, and he stormed out, never to enter a studio again in his remaining 22 years.

But even the magic captured then can't match the febrile intensity of his 1974 live recording from Bayreuth. How did he achieve it?

Recently-uncovered film footage from the Bayreuth pit may provide a clue. Though the picture is grained to a ghost and the sound quality appalling, you can see - and hear - the music utterly transforming and transporting the maestro.

There are six clips - the most revealing is the last (Liebestod).

Act.1 - Prelude: