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Traces to Nowhere, The Conductor Carlos Kleiber. DVD. Directed by Eric Schulz. [Germany]: Arthaus Musik, 2011, 2010. 101553. $28.98.
Music is the Language of the Heart and Soul: A Portrait of Mariss Jansons. DVD. Directed by Robert Neumüller; Gustav Mahler. Symphony No. 2. Mariss Jansons / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Choir. With Ricarda Merbeth, Bernarda Fink. Munich: Unitel Classica, 2012, 2011. 709708. $39.99.
Georges Bizet. Carmen. DVD. Carlos Kleiber / Chorus and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera. With Elena Obraztsova, Plácido Domingo, Yuri Mazurok, Isabel Buchanan. [Germany]: Arthaus Musik, 2012, 1978. 107263. $29.99.
These German-language documentaries with subtitles portray two of the most important conductors of the latter half of the twentieth century, revealing individuals of widely divergent character, and yet drawing some remarkable parallels between them. They were sons of eminent conductors, each having to assert his identity as a practitioner in his own right. Both had their early lives disrupted by the years surrounding WWII. They share similar approaches to their craft, being meticulous preparers of scores and micromanagers in rehearsal. Kleiber prepared all his own scores and parts, frequently using those he inherited from his father. He also consulted composers' autographs where available and indulged in extensive background research. Jansons, too, prepares and rehearses his repertory thoroughly and pursues ancillary research. Both were protégés of and revered Herbert von Karajan. Both demonstrate a particular fondness for Viennese waltzes, and have conducted the popular New Year's Day concert with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The difference, of course, is that Jansons is able to speak for himself - and does so eloquently. Kleiber (who died in 2004) cannot - nor would he have done, for, as an intensely private man, he shunned all publicity and never gave interviews. Instead, there is a distinguished roster of former friends and colleagues to speak about him. Watching the two films side-by-side makes for a fascinating comparison.
Music is the Language of the Heart and Soul opens in Latvia with Jansons reminiscing at the beach near his childhood home. Although the shadow of German occupation and the postwar Stalinist repression loomed over his early years, his family life and education in Riga and then Leningrad seems to have been happy and saturated in music. He conjectures...