Impact
He effectively retired from concert life in the early 1990s, occasionally appearing to give private concerts or benefit concerts. For one such event in Ingolstadt, instead of the usual fee, Kleiber received a new Audi made to his specifications. His performances were meticulously rehearsed but often seemed spontaneous and inspired. In the opinion of many of his colleagues and audiences, Kleiber was an eccentric genius who was amongst the greatest conductors of all time, despite the paucity of his appearances.
He is buried in the Slovenian village of Konjšica near Litija in 2004, together with his wife Stanislava Brezovar, a ballet dancer, who died seven months earlier. He and his wife had two children, a son, Marko, and a daughter, Lillian.
In 2008 Rai Radio 3 (Italian National Radio channel 3), inside its evening program Radio3Suite, broadcast a 10-episode program dedicated to Kleiber's legacy: Il Sorriso Della Musica: Un Ritratto Di Carlos Kleiber ("The Smile Of Music: A Portrait Of Carlos Kleiber"), organized and hosted by Andrea Ottonello, with participation by Claudio Abbado, Mirella Freni, Maurizio Pollini, and above all Carlos Kleiber's sister, Veronica. In his interview, Abbado terms Kleiber "one of the greatest if not the greatest conductor of the 20th century" ("Carlos è stato uno dei più grandi, se non il più grande direttore del Novecento.")
On 26 September 2009, BBC Radio 3 transmitted a unique documentary, Who Was Carlos Kleiber? Produced by Paul Frankl, and presented by Ivan Hewett with research by Ruth Thomson, this feature was based on interviews with four who knew Kleiber well: tenor and conductor Plácido Domingo, music administrator and Intendant Sir Peter Jonas, music journalist and critic Christine Lemke-Matvey, and conductor–pianist Charles Barber. It may be downloaded at: http://www.mediafire.com/?wn4lnykyqkk A transcription of the program is available at http://www.carlos-kleiber.com/resources.
On 21 June 2010, Ljubljana celebrated Carlos Kleiber's 80th birthday with a concert by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Kleiber's friend Riccardo Muti.
BBC Music Magazine, one of the more popular of such journals, announced on 17 March 2011 that Kleiber had been selected as "the greatest conductor of all time." Some 100 current conductors, including Sir Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Valery Gergiev and Mariss Jansons participated in the BBC poll. Kleiber, who conducted just 96 concerts and around 400 operatic performances in his 74 years, was voted ahead of Leonard Bernstein and Claudio Abbado, who took second and third places respectively.
Susanna Mälkki, Music director, Ensemble Intercontemporain, and one of the conductors polled, commented: "Carlos Kleiber brought an incredible energy to music… Yes, he did have about five times as much time to rehearse than conductors do today, but he deserved it because his vision was remarkable, he knew what he wanted, and his attention to detail was truly inspiring."
Jeremy Pound, Deputy Editor of BBC Music Magazine, added: "Asking 100 of today's conducting greats to name their idols and inspirations was a fascinating experience. Not least when so many named Carlos Kleiber, who in the course of his whole lifetime conducted fewer concerts than most of them manage in just a couple of years. Kleiber's incredible attention to detail, sheer enthusiasm for music, and astonishingly accomplished level of performance could never be doubted – perhaps 'less is more' is the real path to true greatness?"
According to Dr Charles Barber, biographer, friend, and pen-pal of Kleiber, another factor contributed to his legendary and unusual career. "Uniquely, Carlos Kleiber combined the rigors of German analysis, form, and discipline with the expressive vitality of Latin dance, pulse, and joy. For nearly twenty years at the formative outset, a conductor baptized Karl gradually became Carlos. He never turned his back on that fascinating cultural biochemistry. It would shape everything he did."
Kleiber was voted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame in 2012. Clemens Hellsberg (Gramophone magazine, May 2012) said: "What was it that propelled Carlos Kleiber to near mystical heights? It was the unforgettable experience of surpassing one's own boundaries, yet also the utter helplessness when he stormed off in the last minutes of a final rehearsal. This was not pretension, but rather the expression of deepest despair, even through the orchestra had performed at the highest level - or perhaps for that very reason. Extreme contradictions characterised his personality: one constantly feared catastrophe, yet he was always available to musicians for private conversations. He had a vast repertoire, yet restricted himself to a very few works. His outbursts of rage could be directed at anyone, yet his interaction with children was characterised by a precious and fragile tenderness. In art there are no upward limits. Yet each generation needs at least one artist, who exemplifies this. Kleiber reached to the star for us; even when he broke down in his efforts, he still proved that they exist".
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