Klecki, Kletzki, Paweł, Paul, *21 March 1900 Łódź, †5 March 1973 Liverpool, Polish conductor. He came from a family of wealthy textile workers from Łódź, lovers of music and theatre. He began learning to play the violin as a child and, at the age of 14, became a member of the newly established Łódź Symphony Orchestra, with which he performed as a soloist in Saint-Saëns’s Violin Concerto in 1919. He then began studying conducting at the Warsaw Conservatory under E. Młynarski and composition under J. Wertheim. After a few months, he was already conducting classes with students in Młynarski’s place, and after a year, he graduated from the Conservatory. In 1920, he received the Warsaw Philharmonic Award for Overture for O. Wilde’s Florentine Tragedy, and in 1922 Młynarski performed his Sinfonietta for strings at one of his concerts. In 1921, Klecki went to Berlin to continue his studies with J. Wertheim, who had settled there, and with F. Koch (theory) at the Hochschule für Musik. In 1923, he made his debut in Berlin as a conductor, leading performances of his own works. In 1924, he was introduced to W. Furtwängler, whose friendship and care had a great influence on shaping Klecki’s artistic personality. Thanks to Furtwängler, he conducted several concerts of the Berlin Philharmonic. In 1933, he emigrated to Italy, where he taught composition and orchestration at the Scuola Superiore di Musica in Milan. In 1937–38, he was the conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra in Kharkov, after which he settled in Switzerland, accepting citizenship of that country in 1947. In 1940, he began working with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, and in 1943, he took over the management of music festivals in Lausanne. After the war, he began an intensive concert activity, gaining international fame; in 1946, at the invitation of Toscanini, he took part in the concerts inaugurating the post-war activity of La Scala (he conducted, among others, A. Szałowski’s Overture); in 1947, he made his debut in England with the Philharmonia Orchestra, and in 1954–55, he was the principal conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. He gave concerts in Europe (including works by Brahms, Scriabin and Mahler) and in South America. In 1959, he made his debut in the United States with the Philadelphia Orchestra; in 1960–63, he was the music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and in 1954–66, he held a similar position in Bern. In 1967–69, after E. Ansermet left, he took over the management of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. In the 1960s, he visited Poland several times, conducting concerts of the National Philharmonic (including the first post-war performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4), with which he performed at the Montreux Festival in 1963; he also conducted other Polish orchestras (WOSPR) and led a conducting seminar in Kraków. Dynamism, energy, flair and freshness of interpretation won him listeners and critical praise, while excessive nervousness and domineering often made harmonious cooperation with orchestral ensembles difficult. Seriously ill with a heart condition for several years, he died suddenly during a rehearsal of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Klecki was particularly valued for his masterful performances of works by Brahms and Mahler. Most of his extensive compositional output (including four symphonies, piano and violin concertos, chamber works, and songs) was destroyed during World War II.
