Carlos Kleiber; conductor pursued perfectionism; 74
FRANKFURT -- Carlos Kleiber, the celebrated perfectionist conductor whose mystique grew partly out of the rarity of his performances, died July 13 after a long, undisclosed illness. He was 74.
Mr. Kleiber was buried Saturday at Konjsica, Slovenia, next to his wife, who was Slovenian and died in December.
''The greatest living conductor has left us," Ioan Holender, director of the Vienna State Opera, told the Austria Press Agency.
The son of famed conductor Erich Kleiber, Mr. Kleiber was an independent who refused to accept positions with companies, instead preferring to conduct as a guest wherever and whenever he pleased.
The native Berliner was considered one of the great conductors of the late 20th century along with Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, and Georg Solti. Mr. Kleiber was a mysterious figure in the music world, refusing all interviews; he repeatedly left orchestra players notes filled with instructions, which became known as ''Kleibergrams."
''Carlos Kleiber was a musical genius beyond words," Luciano Pavarotti said in a statement released through a spokeswoman. ''Music-loving audiences the world over were deprived of the privilege of experiencing him in public in more recent years, but he was a unique conductor and an extraordinary interpreter and the music world has suffered a tragic loss."
Mr. Kleiber's performances were electric, filled with precise tempos and unusual color. The tenor Placido Domingo, himself a conductor, called Mr. Kleiber the consummate conductor. Asked what attributes he would want from every living conductor, Domingo was quoted in Helena Matheopoulos's 1982 book, ''Maestro," as saying he would want ''the cheering of Jimmy Levine, Claudio Abbado's special way of indicating a legato, Zubin Mehta's incredible facility.
''But from Carlos Kleiber, I would want . . . everything."
Mr. Kleiber largely retired after 1994, conducting only a pair of concerts each in 1996 and 1997 before his final public performances, five concerts of Beethoven's Fourth and Seventh symphonies followed by the overture to Johann Strauss Jr.'s ''Die Fledermaus" with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Spain and Italy in 1999.
Mr. Kleiber made his US debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on Oct. 12, 1978, conducting the overture to Weber's ''Der Freischutz," Schubert's Third Symphony, and Beethoven's Fifth. He returned to Orchestra Hall in June 1983. His only other American performances were at the Metropolitan Opera, where he made his debut on Jan. 22, 1988, in a revival of Puccini's ''La Bohme."
''Puccini's bittersweet tale of bohemian lovers in Paris had been heard 639 times at the Metropolitan Opera before Friday night's performance, but it's doubtful it ever sounded better," Mike Silverman, an AP critic, wrote.
Mr. Kleiber conducted 19 performances in all at the Met over a two-year period.
Mr. Kleiber's impulsiveness was legendary. He once reportedly bolted in the middle of a recording session, leaving only a note that he was going out for a Sunday drive. Karajan is said to have quipped that Mr. Kleiber only conducted when his freezer was empty.
But the conductor's personality was offset by his masterful conducting. He constantly practiced and controlled the movement of his gestures, elevating communication between conductor and musicians to a high art.
His performances of Beethoven's Fifth and Seventh symphonies and of ''Der Rosenkavalier" and ''Die Fledermaus" are recognized as among the greatest ever. His opening-night performance of the 1976-77 La Scala season in ''Otello" with Domingo is famous.
''Maestro, it took a German to show us Italians how Verdi should be done," director Franco Zeffirelli was overheard on television microphones telling Mr. Kleiber after the first performance.
