Kleiber rehearsing 1970

[Humoresque]

This rare film of Kleiber rehearsing with the Stuttgart orchestra in 1970 is really wonderful. Here they are - a stolid group of very good players used to doing what they've done for years with the same piece - and along comes this phenomenal new conductor, with very original ideas, a vivid imagination and a superb sense of humour!! Watch the expressions on their faces as Kleiber tries to seduce them into thinking quite differently about the warhorse "Fledermaus". Some of them smile reluctantly: I know I would have done so willingly with such a charismatic person standing in front of me!! Some of his melodramatic exaggerations from 19'15" are very funny:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVk2Glu-7kM

I'll add mine..."Oh God, you're very much missed"!!

[Peter]

Thanks for that - very enjoyable and nice to see a conductor treating an orchestra with respect and humour and shows it isn't necessary to beat the players up and humiliate them as some conductors did and do in order to get the best out of them, mentioning no names!

[Humoresque]

This magnificent conductor used to leave "Kleibergrams" on the music stands of musicians after rehearsals; these took the form of little visiting cards with handwritten instructions on them about any issues with the playing, explicitly designed to avoid embarrassing the musicians or singers (since he conducted far more in the theatre than the concert hall) in front of their peers. Brigitte Fassbaender said she'd collected "Kleibergrams" and kept them in a little box in memory of Carlos!!

Kleiber is to be the subject of presentations by me next year and I'm researching everything I can but, sadly, there's a dearth of material and only one interview from 1960. You need to know German but one thing becomes obvious - his softly-spoken, gentle and refined manner. Here it is from 1960 where he talks about his father, Erich Kleiber (a source of much of his insecurity):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qydEss4m20

In his book, "Corresponding with Carlos", American conductor Charles Barber has included most of the letters from his written friendship with Kleiber from 1989 up until 2003. These are revealing of a man who has a whacky (sometimes very strange) sense of humour, some very odd and eccentric ideas (he detested Lincoln and Ghandi) and a real love of the poetry of Emily Dickinson. It was Norman Lebrecht who wrote "if Kleiber had an inner life this is not revealed in these letters". (I've already had words with Lebrecht about, inter alia, the use of that word "if"!!)

At the end of quite a few of these letters Kleiber signs off as "Carlos, Emily Dickinson's dog!" He loved her poetry and often referred to himself this way. This was not only silly but a classic distancing device because Carlos surely had issues with intimacy. This never really handicapped his ability to have strong friendships, for he was widely loved.

The Carlos Kleiber story is a moving, often enigmatic, one and I recall in the mid-80's (whilst clutching my incandescent Brahms #4 conducted with the VPO) wondering where he'd gone. Now I know. And, of course, we have his Beethoven #5 and #7. One of these days I'd like to have a discussion about the second movement of the latter and its double appoggiaturas (are they even that?) which he alluded to in a letter to Barber!! Anyway, we also have his Beethoven #4 and Brahms #2 and #4 courtesy of Intel, recorded at concerts. In eschewing the byzantine canopy of sycophancy, conformity and politics shrouding the classical music world Carlos simply took flight.

Kleiber had an aristocratic mien and conducting style which captivated everybody - not to mention that he was a handsome 'young Apollo' out there in front of the orchestra in his prime!!! One woman said, "when Carlos came into a room it lit up and when he left it a light went out".

[Peter]

Once again, very interesting and good luck with your presentation!

[Humoresque]

I recommend this example of Kleiber conducting the Overture to "Der Freischutz", 1970. At 8'34" you'll see first hand the ecstasy on the conductor's face as he identifies with the character being defined in this theatre music. This was typical of Kleiber and his unique response to music - and doesn't he look just adorable here! An absolute joy from beginning to end:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Umd7w5cECE

And, some years later (1983) with the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. Take at look especially at 3'38". Kleiber complained to Charles Barber that the orchestra was "too stolid and took no notice of how I told them how to play it"!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3-jlAamGCE