Carlos Kleiber

Carlos Kleiber was one of the greatest of conductors of the modern age, the aura of mystique surrounding him merely adding to the thrill of his performances. The son of another great conductor, Erich Kleiber (1890-1956), Carlos achieved an almost legendary status during his lifetime thanks to his incandescent music-making and almost reclusive lifestyle (he steadfastly refused to give interviews and play the media game). He was born in Berlin in 1930 but raised in Argentina where his family emigrated in 1935, and showed musical talent at an early age, much to his father's regret. After studying chemistry in Zurich, he turned to music, working first as a répétiteur and then as kapellmeister in various European opera houses. For the last 31 years of his life, he never held an official position with an orchestra or opera house, simply conducting as a guest. He conducted his final concert in 1999 and died five years later. The recorded catalogue he left behind is small and select, but the standard of music-making he achieved was extraordinary. His 1974 Beethoven Fifth with the Vienna Philharmonic sealed his reputation and remains one of the greatest recordings of the work ever made, thrilling in its intensity, energy and fire. Schubert's Third and Eighth and Brahms's Fourth with the VPO followed, and all to huge acclaim. In the opera house, he excelled in Puccini's La bohème, Verdi's La traviata (which he recorded commercially with Ileana Cotrubas and Plácido Domingo) and Otello, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (also recorded, with René Kollo and Margaret Price), Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier (filmed in performances from Munich and Vienna) and Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus.