David Stewart wrote:

>What else has he done??? [about Carlos Kleiber]

To be fair, I'm not that as huge a fan of Carlos Kleiber as are most
people.  That may have more to do with not hearing all that much of
his work all that often, but I tend to like more romantic conductors.
Kleiber's recordings crossed into the early digital age, and early digital
was terrible:  sound maven and analog fanatic that I was/am, I didn't
listen to them much.  This included the Brahms Fourth whose sound was just
too white and harsh for me the couple of times I played it.  I did like the
Beethoven symphonies, especially the Fifth (both DGs were analog, I think).

My point in writing is to mention two opera recordings no one else did
(to my knowledge).  There is a fast, tense La Traviata, which I liked but
haven't heard in so long that I don't want to say much more than that.
More famous was his Tristan.  I liked that one a lot, but that was really
done in by the digital sound.  I think I even had company from the early
pro-digiphiles on that one.  I do remember it as having an eerie, yet
somehow earthy quality about it, but that too was a long time.  I hardly
see it around in the used LP bins any more and am wondering if, sound or
not, it has become a bit of a collector's piece.  I'm not sure.  But if
you're interested in Kleiber, I'd definitely look out for it in some
format.

Roger Hecht