Erich Kleiber
I played Erich Kleiber's 'Benvenuto Cellini' overture recently and really was bowled over. Such incredible legato and cantilena!
I wonder if this is by any chance anything to do with a remark Lamberto Gardelli made to me. He said that Erich Kleiber had learned how to conduct Italian opera from Egisto Tango in Copenhagen. Tango was about 25 older than Kleiber. He premiered The Wooden Prince and Bluebeard's Castle in Budapest and had a considerable career in his time. Gardelli's career followed Tango's in that he was an Italian with close links to Budapest and Scandinavua. He took Swedish nationality after the war because he said he had been persecuted by the Fascists before and during the war and then by the Communists in Italy. So perhaps he heard this claim of Tango's directly from him.
I read a biography of Erich Kleiber once and was impressed by two instances which demonstrate his obsessional nature;
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Before every performance he would go to the theatre or hall before anyone was admitted to check that the cleaners had removed every piece of rubbish from the auditorium.
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In his apartment he had made a model of the orchestra with little figures resembling all his players which he used to re-arrange in different formats while considering the best disposition of his forces.
His Beethoven 5th was the first recording I bought with Bar-Mitzvah money.
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