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Intensely moving. --IRR,May'11
Worth watching. **** --BBC Music Magazine,July'11
Carlos Kleiber(1930-2004) was a conductor without equal.Even today, nearly 20 years after his last public appearance,his admirers-anyone lucky to have attented one of his performances-rave about him.He had just about everything: rhythm, an explosive presence, an innate knowledge of Orchestral psychology, a phenomenal gift for shaping music.Klieber conducted rarely,restricted himself to a narrow repertoire and refused to be interviewed, which partly explains the choice of title for this probing, sensative, 70-minute DVD,originally made for television. ***** --Financial Times,11/02/12
Worth watching. **** --BBC Music Magazine,July'11
Carlos Kleiber(1930-2004) was a conductor without equal.Even today, nearly 20 years after his last public appearance,his admirers-anyone lucky to have attented one of his performances-rave about him.He had just about everything: rhythm, an explosive presence, an innate knowledge of Orchestral psychology, a phenomenal gift for shaping music.Klieber conducted rarely,restricted himself to a narrow repertoire and refused to be interviewed, which partly explains the choice of title for this probing, sensative, 70-minute DVD,originally made for television. ***** --Financial Times,11/02/12
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
It's difficult for me to write an impersonal view of this film - or of its companion 'I am lost to the world' because it had an emotional and intellectual impact on me that's still buzzing weeks after I first watched it. There's a review of one of his Beethoven performances that says 'It's as if Homer came back to read the Iliad,' and (sorry for repeating a truism) his interpretations make you feel as if you're hearing the music for the first time.
It's a film that fires the imagination - like, what would it have been like to play with him conducting? Even to be in the audience? You get to see something of his particular conducting technique - with eyes and fingers and butterfly-baton - but I treasure especially his metaphors (he had six languages) ... preparing for the Liebestod, he says that Isolde is on her way to her first communion, she is in ecstasy and it's the audience that's heartbroken. On another occasion he clarifies his direction by telling the orchestra 'it's like making love to the same woman, but in a different position.'
Watching the excerpts from the New Year's Day concerts from Vienna, I had the insight that he conducts the VPO as if they were a Bavarian band and the Bavarian band as if they were the VPO. My Dad, who idolised Beethoven and died well before Kleiber came on the scene, would have been stunned by this; I can feel him on my shoulder whether I be laughing, crying, or simply entranced.
It's a film that fires the imagination - like, what would it have been like to play with him conducting? Even to be in the audience? You get to see something of his particular conducting technique - with eyes and fingers and butterfly-baton - but I treasure especially his metaphors (he had six languages) ... preparing for the Liebestod, he says that Isolde is on her way to her first communion, she is in ecstasy and it's the audience that's heartbroken. On another occasion he clarifies his direction by telling the orchestra 'it's like making love to the same woman, but in a different position.'
Watching the excerpts from the New Year's Day concerts from Vienna, I had the insight that he conducts the VPO as if they were a Bavarian band and the Bavarian band as if they were the VPO. My Dad, who idolised Beethoven and died well before Kleiber came on the scene, would have been stunned by this; I can feel him on my shoulder whether I be laughing, crying, or simply entranced.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
On one level, this film must have been a nightmare for the filmmakers to make, because Carlos Kleiber never gave interviews or ran the PR-gamut that musicians now do. Thus the only footage of him in action is the rehearsal footage (also featured on another, separate DVD from another company), or still photographs, including rare shots of him with his wife as just regular folks on the street.
However, where the film scores is in getting people like Kleiber's sister, Veronika Kleiber, to reminisce about her brother, where her memories are quite touching. Likewise, orchestral musicians and opera stage collaborators who aren't big names get to lend their voices, in addition to more celebrated people like Placido Domingo, Brigitte Fassbaender, and Manfred Honeck. There isn't much in the way of criticism or sniping, as one might expect (except perhaps the one gentle allusion that he was quite the ladies' man, even when married). But that is a measure of the huge esteem in which fellow musicians and opera stage artists held him, and continue to hold him even after his death.
75 minutes is a somewhat odd length for a film, and some might initially consider it slightly short measure. However, working with the initial constraint mentioned at the start, this film makes for a good introduction to Carlos Kleiber the person, beyond Carlos Kleiber the musician via his recordings. By the end, the 75-minute length feels kind of just right. (Let's hope someone writes a full-scale biography of him at some point.)
BTW, the title is a rough paraphrase of the apparently Chinese/Buddhist concept expressed in the film that one should leave as little trace of one's presence in the world. Maybe that explains partly why he made so few commercial recordings, or conducted so few concerts in his life.
However, where the film scores is in getting people like Kleiber's sister, Veronika Kleiber, to reminisce about her brother, where her memories are quite touching. Likewise, orchestral musicians and opera stage collaborators who aren't big names get to lend their voices, in addition to more celebrated people like Placido Domingo, Brigitte Fassbaender, and Manfred Honeck. There isn't much in the way of criticism or sniping, as one might expect (except perhaps the one gentle allusion that he was quite the ladies' man, even when married). But that is a measure of the huge esteem in which fellow musicians and opera stage artists held him, and continue to hold him even after his death.
75 minutes is a somewhat odd length for a film, and some might initially consider it slightly short measure. However, working with the initial constraint mentioned at the start, this film makes for a good introduction to Carlos Kleiber the person, beyond Carlos Kleiber the musician via his recordings. By the end, the 75-minute length feels kind of just right. (Let's hope someone writes a full-scale biography of him at some point.)
BTW, the title is a rough paraphrase of the apparently Chinese/Buddhist concept expressed in the film that one should leave as little trace of one's presence in the world. Maybe that explains partly why he made so few commercial recordings, or conducted so few concerts in his life.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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5 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Good documentary on Carlos Kleiber
30 Aug 2011
On one level, this film must have been a nightmare for the filmmakers to make, because Carlos Kleiber never gave interviews or ran the PR-gamut that musicians now do. Thus the only footage of him in action is the rehearsal footage (also featured on another, separate DVD from another company), or still photographs, including rare shots of him with his wife just as regular folks on the street.
However, where the film scores is in getting people like Kleiber's sister, Veronika Kleiber, to reminisce about her brother, where her memories are quite touching. Likewise, orchestral musicians and opera stage collaborators who aren't big names get to lend their voices, in addition to more celebrated people like Placido Domingo, Brigitte Fassbaender, and Manfred Honeck. There isn't much in the way of criticism or sniping, as one might expect (except perhaps the one gentle allusion that he was quite the ladies' man, even when married). But that is a measure of the huge esteem in which fellow musicians and opera stage artists held him, and continue to hold him even after his death.
75 minutes is a somewhat odd length for a film, and some might initially consider it slightly short measure. However, working with the initial constraint mentioned at the start, this film makes for a good introduction to Carlos Kleiber the person, beyond Carlos Kleiber the musician via his recordings. By the end, the 75-minute length feels kind of just right. (Let's hope someone writes a full-scale biography of him at some point.)
BTW, the title is a rough translation of the apparently Chinese/Buddhist concept expressed in the film that one should leave as little trace of one's presence in the world. Maybe that explains partly why he made so few commercial recordings, or conducted so few concerts in his life.
However, where the film scores is in getting people like Kleiber's sister, Veronika Kleiber, to reminisce about her brother, where her memories are quite touching. Likewise, orchestral musicians and opera stage collaborators who aren't big names get to lend their voices, in addition to more celebrated people like Placido Domingo, Brigitte Fassbaender, and Manfred Honeck. There isn't much in the way of criticism or sniping, as one might expect (except perhaps the one gentle allusion that he was quite the ladies' man, even when married). But that is a measure of the huge esteem in which fellow musicians and opera stage artists held him, and continue to hold him even after his death.
75 minutes is a somewhat odd length for a film, and some might initially consider it slightly short measure. However, working with the initial constraint mentioned at the start, this film makes for a good introduction to Carlos Kleiber the person, beyond Carlos Kleiber the musician via his recordings. By the end, the 75-minute length feels kind of just right. (Let's hope someone writes a full-scale biography of him at some point.)
BTW, the title is a rough translation of the apparently Chinese/Buddhist concept expressed in the film that one should leave as little trace of one's presence in the world. Maybe that explains partly why he made so few commercial recordings, or conducted so few concerts in his life.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Carlos Kleiber "Traces to nowhere"
21 Aug 2011
Carlos Kleiber (and also his father Eric) were absolutely great conductors and I always enjoy very much Carlos' recordings (DVD and CD). There is,for me, one unanswered question:
Why did he conduct and record so little? Maybe the answer would be similar to the same question about Glenn Gould. Did "we" not always understand their "souls"? Both biographical DVD about Carlos Kleiber (Traces to nowhere and I am lost to the world) are very good but somewhat repetitive. And their prices are steep if we consider there is relatively little music.
Why did he conduct and record so little? Maybe the answer would be similar to the same question about Glenn Gould. Did "we" not always understand their "souls"? Both biographical DVD about Carlos Kleiber (Traces to nowhere and I am lost to the world) are very good but somewhat repetitive. And their prices are steep if we consider there is relatively little music.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Traces to Nowhere
24 Jun 2011
Amazon Verified Purchase
Generally, this document is accurate and those interviewed are interesting. The whole film seems quite good about not painting a strange picture of the maestro. The photography is excellent. It's a very slim film on a fabulous conductor.
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