Bernhard Klee
Bernhard Klee was a German conductor and pianist. His leadership posts included terms as Generalmusikdirektor at the Theater Lübeck from 1966 to 1973, chief conductor of the Radiophilharmonie Hannover in Hanover from 1976 to 1979, GMD in Düsseldorf from 1977 to 1987, chief conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie from 1991 to 1995 and of the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz from 1992 to 1997, Beginning in the 1970s, he was closely associated with the BBC as a regular guest conductor of several London orchestras. He performed in Munich, Vienna, at the Salzburg Festival and in the United States, among others, and recorded extensively. As a pianist, he often accompanied his first wife, soprano Edith Mathis, in Lieder repertoire.
Klee was regarded as a renowned interpreter of Mozart, discovering rarely played works such as Zaide and recognized in awards for recordings of his music such as Deutscher Schallplattenpreis and Wiener Flötenuhr. He made significant contributions to the performance of contemporary music, conducting world premieres of works by Hans-Jürgen von Bose, Wolfgang Fortner, Sofia Gubaidulina, Hans Werner Henze, Volker David Kirchner, Detlev Müller-Siemens, Dieter Schnebel and Manfred Trojahn.
Life and career
Bernhard Klee was born in Schleiz, Thuringia, on 19 April 1936 and grew up in Jena. Klee learned to play the piano, violin, and double bass. He was a member of the Leipzig Thomanerchor from 1948 to 1955, under Günther Ramin, eventually serving as prefect. At the age of ten, he heard his first Mozart opera, which would shape him profoundly. After completing his Abitur in 1955 at the Thomasschule zu Leipzig, he studied at the State Academy of Music in Cologne, where his teachers included Günter Wand for conducting, Else Schmitz-Gohr for piano, and Maurits Frank for chamber music. He later emphasized that Fritz Schieri especially influenced his conducting technique. Wand was a role model for him as a conductor focused on the composition.Early career
In 1957, Klee began his career as a répétiteur at the Cologne Opera, where Otto Ackermann was Generalmusikdirektor. In 1958, he moved to the Stadttheater Bern. When Wolfgang Sawallisch was GMD in Cologne, he appointed Klee as his assistant. Klee made his conducting debut in 1960 with Mozart's Die Zauberflöte; the soloists at the time included Elisabeth Grümmer, Edith Mathis, Fritz Wunderlich, and Franz Crass. He then held his first positions as Kapellmeister at the Landestheater Salzburg, Theater Oberhausen, and Staatsoper Hannover.Lübeck
From 1966 to 1973, he held his first leading position as GMD at the Theater Lübeck, succeeding Gerd Albrecht. According to Klaus Matthias, who described him as "a gifted Mozart conductor," Klee devoted himself to the music of Haydn and Mozart, as well as Beethoven and Brahms. He also continued the biennial Bruckner tradition, revisited the symphonies of Mahler and programmed a Sibelius cycle. Matthias noted that Klee "particularly honored Lübeck's historically rooted orientation toward Scandinavia." Klee also performed works by other Romantic composers and representatives of classical modernism, such as Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, and Dmitri Shostakovich. He also played the previously neglected Baroque and pre-Classical composers, which Matthias attributed to Klee's time with the Thomanerchor. Klee's wife, the renowned soprano Edith Mathis, frequently performed in concerts. From 1967, Klee introduced pre-concert talks and later program notes for modern works by Karl Amadeus Hartmann and Wolfgang Fortner. His concert series Musik der Zeit showcased "avant-garde attempts that were rejected by the audience and not sustained." He also advocated for children's concerts. In 1973, he stepped down from his duties in Lübeck "with courageous intellectual independence ahead of schedule".Guest conducting and international breakthrough
In 1968 Klee made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he would repeatedly perform during the tenures of Karajan and Abbado. After his debut in 1979 with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, he became a regular guest at its symphony concerts in the Berliner Philharmonie and the Haus des Rundfunks during the 1980s.A guest performance by the Hamburg State Opera took him to the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland in 1969 with Wagner's The Flying Dutchman. In 1971/72, he was a guest conductor with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, where he collaborated with Pierre Boulez. At the Proms in London's Royal Albert Hall during the 1970s, he conducted not only the BBC Symphony Orchestra but also the London Symphony Orchestra. In an interview, he stated that of the three London orchestras he regularly worked with, he felt particularly connected to the LSO. He made his debut at the Royal Opera House in London in 1972 with Mozart's Così fan tutte.
In 1973, he first appeared at the Salzburg Festival, where he performed Mozart symphonies, arias and a piano concerto with the Mozarteum Orchestra, bassist Robert Kerns and pianist . Further appearances there included three performances of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's production of Le nozze di Figaro 1979 with the Vienna Philharmonic. In 1975, he first conducted at the Wiener Musikverein, where he subsequently conducted the Vienna Symphony and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
Klee first conducted in Munich in the 1973/74 season, works by Hartmann and Hans Werner Henze in a musica viva concert. praised him in the Süddeutsche Zeitung for his precise conducting. Further performances with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra followed, including at the Mozart Festival Würzburg. Joachim Kaiser was impressed by Klee's performance at a concert at the Herkulessaal in 1976, which "established him as a conductor of distinction." During the interim period between Rudolf Kempe and Sergiu Celibidache, Klee was one of the guest conductors with the Munich Philharmonic. At his first Munich Opera Festival in 1979, he conducted the premiere of Mozart's La finta giardiniera at the Cuvilliés Theatre, directed by.
When Daniel Barenboim withdrew from his commitment to the New York Philharmonic in the 1973/74 season due to an orchestra strike, Klee stepped in, making his debut in the United States at Avery Fisher Hall. Harold C. Schonberg from the New York Times described his performance of works by Weber, Hartmann, and Mahler as solid but lacking inspiration. Subsequently, Klee was invited to conduct other major U.S. orchestras, including the Big Five. He was a frequent guest with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at Heinz Hall in the 1990s. In 1992, he made his debut with the Dutch Concertgebouw Orchestra, performing works by Mozart, Schumann, and Dvořák. For Wolf-Eberhard von Lewinski, Klee was "an equally musical and intelligent conductor, a precise craftsman, and a sovereign interpreter."
Hannover, Düsseldorf, Ludwigshafen
Following the death of, Klee served as chief conductor of the Radiophilharmonie Hannover from 1976 to 1979, and again from 1991 to 1995. According to Günter Katzenberger, he provided the orchestra with "decisive artistic impulses that led to its high reputation and made it known beyond the region." While still active in Hannover, Klee led the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra from 1977 to 1987, succeeding Willem van Otterloo.Hans Hubert Schieffer, Hermann Josef Müller: Neue Musik in Düsseldorf seit 1945. Ein Beitrag zur Musikgeschichte und zum Musikleben der Stadt. Dohr, Cologne 1998, He placed a particular emphasis on the Second Viennese School, already in his inaugural concert. He conducted local premieres of music by Ravel, Stravinsky, Bartók, and Busoni. He also incorporated music by Olivier Messiaen, Karol Szymanowski, and Henryk Czyż. During his tenure the orchestra was enlarged from 90 players to 130. He planned concert programs carefully, sometimes combining seemingly incompatible pieces, with courage and instinct. The choir was highly challenged by performances of contemporary music. Highlights included the performance of Denisov's Requiem in 1985, in the presence of the composer and Soviet ambassador Vladimir Semyonov, as well as Messiaen's La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ. Klee also conducted works by Alexander Scriabin and Franz Schreker, as well as composers from the second half of the 20th century, including Boulez, Ligeti, Maderna, and Penderecki. Contemporary compositions by Baird, Henze, and Kotoński were also performed. Composers such as Witold Lutosławski, Heinz Holliger, and Hans Zender conducted their own works in Düsseldorf during Klee's tenure. Klee also championed Düsseldorf composers such as, Oskar Gottlieb Blarr, and Jürg Baur. He initiated a program for composers in their 20s to collaborate with the orchestra, giving each a residence of a week of watching rehearsals, speak with the musicians and try things out. Together with the choir of the Musikverein choir, Klee recorded for EMI Schumann's Scenes from Goethe's Faust, Requiem, Requiem for Mignon, and orchestral-choral ballads. In 1984, he led the choir and orchestra on a highly acclaimed guest tour to the Wratislavia Cantans festival in Wrocław, Poland. On the program were Mozart's Requiem, Schoenberg's A Survivor from Warsaw and then a repeat of the Requiem until the point where Mozart ended because he died; the program was regarded as an expression of reconciliation.When the "new" Tonhalle Düsseldorf was opened in 1978 after restoration, he also programmed chamber music works there, unprecedented since Heinrich Hollreiser. He established a second repeat of symphony concerts on Sunday mornings. Music critic Hans Winking considered him one of the "most distinguished German conductors," who had made significant contributions to contemporary music in Düsseldorf.
During his Düsseldorf years, Klee became the principal guest conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester from 1985 to 1989. He performed regularly with them at the Proms. His final Proms concert was in 1991. After Franz Welser-Möst did not assume his post in 1991, Klee initially became interim chief conductor of the Rhine-Palatinate State Philharmonic in Ludwigshafen in 1992.