50 years after Kleiber’s Beethoven Fifth: The sound engineer speaks

In October 1974, Carlos Kleiber made his first* commercial recording. It was Beethoven’s fifth symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic for Deutsche Grammophon and it was instantly (and lastingly) acclaimed as the most perfect interpretation of that work ever heard.

A report in Die Presse discovers that Kleiber and the Viennese had a tryout run of concerts in Bratislava and Gothenburg before agreeing to make the record.

The sound engineer Hans-Peter Schweigmann adds this singular memory:
‘Kleiber arrived perhaps half an hour early in the Großen Musikvereinssaal. He sat down at the timpani and tried out the sound of the timpani alone. I have vivid memories of that. I have never seen a conductor sit down at the timpani and rehearse.’

* Correction: Carlos Kleibers first commercial recording was Freischütz for Deutsche Grammophon and Eterna (VEB Deutsche Schallplatten) recorded in Lukaskirche in Dresden from 22 of January until 8. February 1973.