  F.Schubert, L.v.Beethoven, R.Wagner, Symphony No.8 D.759 “Unfinished”, Symphony No.2 op.36, Siegfried Idyll C.Abbado / WPh, COE Audite     |
The Early Lucerne
Death is brisk business, and it didn’t take long for Audite to publish early tapes of Claudio Abbado recordings from the Lucerne Festival which was then—in 1978 and 1988—still known as the “Internationale Musikfestwochen Lucerne”. Schubert’s “Unfinished” and the Siegfried Idyll are easily worth the release alone; vivid and buoyant the first and languidly, fluidly ceremonial the other. Along with the conventional-yet-riveting Beethoven, it goes to show that Abbado rightly had a superb reputation before his reverently received late post-cancer career that made listeners perceive his concerts as spiritual, rather than musical events.
