Obituaries.(Obituary)

CARLOS KLEIBER, Berlin, July 3, 1930--Konjsica, Slovenia, July 13, 2004

Everyone knows the lore. Carlos Kleiber was a recluse, an eccentric, a loner, a perfectionist. He didn't play by the rules, not even the rules reserved for geniuses--the term is used advisedly--and for superstars.

At his peak he conducted only when he felt like it, and he set unique conditions. the concentrated on a limited repertory, never granted interviews, abhorred publicity, disdained agents, refused titles, avoided formal contracts and rejected ongoing commitments. He was notorious for cancellations and was known to walk out on a rehearsal, never to return. He demanded extra weeks of preparation, even when dealing with familiar hits--especially when dealing with familiar hits. He lavished the same care on a Johann Strauss waltz and a Richard Strauss tragedy. He commanded huge fees, and he once requested and received a $100,000 Audi (four-wheel-drive sports car, eight-cylinder engine) in return for a one-night stand in industrial Ingolstadt. He turned down the players of the Berlin Philharmonic when they asked him to succeed Herbert von Karajan.

Kleiber actually had earned Karajan's admiration--no mean feat--as well as his bemusement. "Carlos has a genius for conducting," the older master observed, "but he doesn't enjoy doing it. He tells me, 'I conduct only when I am hungry.' And it's true. He has a deep-freeze. He fills it up and cooks for himself, and when it gets down to a certain level, then he thinks, 'Now I might do a concert.'"

Kleiber's art justified every quirk. He was a thinker, a scholar, a supreme technician and a man of passion. He had a keen sense of proportion, never allowing one attribute to dominate another. Despite his abiding concern for detail, he never lost sight of the grand design and always conveyed an aura of spontaneity. His performances, predicated on rhythmic precision and vast dynamic variety, never seemed fussy, never precious. In opera he respected the limits of the larynx. He sustained inner tensions, moving with natural ease from introspective lyricism to thunderous drama. He was an architect and a poet, too. He didn't even know the meaning of routine, and he had no use for secondhand ideas, even if they emanated from his famous father, Erich Kleiber.

An enemy of the Nazis, Erich Kleiber emigrated with his family to Buenos Aires when Carlos was five. Although the boy showed rare musical aptitude at an early age, he was encouraged to study chemistry in Zurich in 1949. He rebounded to music, however, and soon found work as a coach and secondary conductor in Munich (the Gartnerplatztheater) and Potsdam. Significantly, he made his debut under the pseudonym Karl Keller. Before long, however, he attained major successes as Carlos Kleiber in Vienna (the Volksoper), Dusseldorf; Stuttgart and Munich (the Staatsoper). His international career began at Edinburgh with Wozzeck in 1966 (his father had led the world premiere forty-one years earlier). Unique triumphs followed at La Scala, Berlin, the Wiener Staatsoper, Covent ...