Carlos Kleiber was a German-born Austrian conductor, who is widely regarded as among the greatest conductors of all time. The son of the conductor Erich Kleiber, he was particularly known for the Romantic repertoire. John Rockwell writes: "A fabled perfectionist, he demanded long hours of rehearsal as his reputation grew and allowed him to obtain such concessions. But he made all that work pay off in performances that blended exactitude with impassioned spontaneity." He disliked making recordings, and his discography is small compared to his contemporaries.