Best recording that Carlos Kleiber made...

[MISHUGINA]

Hi, some few weeks after I've bought the Carlos Kleiber's Brahms 4th recording, it is probably the best symphonic recording he made amongst the selected few he made based from countless number of times I've kept replaying it (and I rarely replay CDs more than few times a month). I haven't heard his opera recordings particularly La Traviata, Tristan (he recorded it thrice or even more than that which is quite obscene for an artist as elusive as him  ) etc I can't judge his opera recordings. So I am trying to collect feedback from GMGers here to see which the majority favorite recording of Carlos Kleiber conducting from the list I've compiled above. Happy polling!

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Tristan should be up there somewhere.

It's his crowning achievement on disc...

[The new erato]

Tristan should be up there somewhere.

As should Webers Der Freischutz.

[Que]

All that symphonic repertoire listed is nice, but Carlos Kleiber is at his best in opera.
He should have conducted and recorded more of it.

Q

[knight66]

As should his recordings of Rosenkavalier on DVD. If he recorded Tristan more than once, then the others apart from the one studio recording were unlikely to have been recorded for commercial purposes. They are radio recordings. However, I take the point that he seemed unusually reluctant to commit his musicmaking to disc, unlike say John Elliott Gardiner, who is happy to allow some of his very first performances of a work to be preserved.

I very much admire all the performances you list, no idea which is best, it would be subjective really and depending on how I respond to the specific pieces.

Mike

[Lethevich]

As should his recordings of Rosenkavalier on DVD.

His earliest Rosenkavalier DVD is a delight - it almost made me consider getting the second (both DG), but from what I read about them, the first seems to be the best of the two.

[Iago]

His best recordings are on DVD. Namely the New Years Concerts in 1989 and (I believe) 1991, with the VPO.

A man totally in control of his orchestra and enjoying what he is doing.

[uffeviking]

Everything Carlos Kleiber conducted, recorded or not, is his best!

Those questions about best this and that are a nuisance because the answers always depend on ones personal taste and feelings. 

[Que]

Everything Carlos Kleiber conducted, recorded or not, is his best!

Those questions about best this and that are a nuisance because the answers always depend on ones personal taste and feelings. 

Lis, it was quite recently explained to me - as I'm rather ignorant in these things...
These kind of threads are supposed to be funny...

Maybe we could compile another CD in our best selling GMG "The best of..." series?

Q

[uffeviking]

 

Go right ahead, but don't count on my participation! 

[Brian]

I was going to comment, but my avatar says it all: asking what Carlos Kleiber's "best" recording is, is like asking which lobe of the brain is best. They're all absolutely essential. And they all work beautifully.

[Gustav]

I don't know what it's "best", but i kept listening his 4th,6th,7th beethoven symphonies with bavarian state opera over and over again. By the way why aren't those included in the options? hasn't anyone even heard of those recordings?

[JoshLilly]

As should Webers Der Freischutz.

I have that, but some of the spoken dialogue sounds laughable, even to me, and I don't even speak German. Luckily, I don't care much about that, I just try to skip over it as much as I can. In addition, the sound quality is unbearably bad. If the sound quality were higher, I think I'd like it. Sometimes, I'll wade through the hissy, thin, messed up sound to listen to the demon-summoning scene, and it sounds really intense. I just wish they'd had better equipment then.    I want to say it's my favourite recording, but it's really impossible to tell. Still, for people who don't care about sound quality (and there seem to be many here), the performance is sharp and aggressive, and the opening moments after the overture are handled well, and the glen scene is especially intense.

[Todd]

Kleiber was definitely at his best in opera.  His 1979 Rosekavalier is possible his best "recording," or rather performance; it's also the best performance I've heard or seen of that work. 

His live recordings of Tristan from the 70s are superb.  The '78 La Scala and '74 Bayreuth are both better than the studio version to my ears, though of course the studio recording is in better sound. 

His '76 La Scala Otello is one of the most intense performances of that work - right up there with Toscanini - though the sound is very poor for its age.  Amazing stuff though.

In terms of orchestral music, his Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart are all superb as well, though when it comes to Brahms' Fourth, I prefer his earlier DG recording to his later Philips recording. 

[BorisG]

[FredT]

I'd have to say Der Freischutz. The sense of "line" is spectacular. This is not an opera that plays itself.

[Brian]

when it comes to Brahms' Fourth, I prefer his earlier DG recording to his later Philips recording. 

He recorded it for Philips too? I didn't know that...

Anyways, the correct answer is that all the recordings Carlos Kleiber made are superior to the vast majority of recordings made by the vast majority of the other conductors of the 20th century.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

He recorded it for Philips too? I didn't know that...

It's on DVD. Either part of a Philips multi-pack with other Kleiber concerts or individually on DG.