The natural

Danny Kaye w/the St. Louis Symphony, 1965

On these pages I have chronicled "the greats" in composition, conducting, singing, etc.  It was several months ago now that I finally agreed with the prevailing wisdom that Carlos Kleiber was the greatest conductor of all time.  While he allegedly led fewer symphonic performances in a lifetime than Gergiev does in half a year (something like 88), his innate ability to make such effortless music has much to be admired.  The fact that he was a frequent return visitor to the Vienna Philharmonic (whose players are responsible for selecting conductors) certainly says a great deal.

While knocking Kleiber on other grounds, Norman Lebrecht has this to say of Kleiber's abilities:  "Kleiber had a knack for striking a tempo that felt ‘just right’, nowhere more so than in the Beethoven Fifth Symphony where, in a Vienna Philharmonic recording for Deutsche Grammophon in 1975, he struck a perfect balance of the ominous and the numinous. Remarkably, he did so at a metronome marking that was just eight points off the head-over-heels 108 which the composer had erratically inscribed in his score, a lickety-split misguidance that commonly dashes literalist interpreters onto the rocks of musical ridicule. In a century of symphonic recording, only Toscanini, Giulini and Kleiber have ever got away so fast in the Fifth. Of the three, Kleiber sounds measurably the most relaxed and correct."

Here is a fine example of Kleiber's art.

I am the first to admit--or insist--that the "art" of conducting must be natural.  The successful conductor cannot put on airs in his/her technique.  Many are the conductors who appear to be leading an inner "recording," almost completely devoid of a connection with the ensemble.  Here the "maestro" leaves it up to the players to make the performance occur.  If one reads Donald Peck's (former principal flute with the Chicago Symphony) fine book, The Right Place, The Right Time, you will discover stories of famous conductors actually "learning" their music on the podium.

As for a totally natural conductor who perfectly communicates the intent of the music, I offer this, as well as this, and here, where he succeeds in poking fun at members of our conducting profession as well as the conventions therein.

Here's a link to the whole show.  Compare Mr. Kaye's performance to that of then-NPO conductor Zubin Mehta.