On ClassicsToday: Claudio Abbado's Lucerne Bookend-Bruckner

Abbado’s Bruckner A & Z

by Jens F. Laurson

A new recording of Claudio Abbado conducting Bruckner symphonies at the Lucerne Festival? Of Symphonies 1 and 9, no less, bookending Bruckner’s output—a beginning and an end, entry and exit, and wonderfully symbolic? Not so fast. Both performances had their previous outings. The First on... Continue Reading

Caro Claudio Abbado, Who Died Today - Five Years Ago

Claudio Abbado's recorded legacy is already undergoing a more critical reception than it had been during his last decades and immediately since his death. The fawning subsides and even in polite society one can point out that he was capable not only of some truly thrilling peaks of interpretation but also of braod swaths of boredom. But on his fifth deathiversary, let's celebrate the good and the great and the marvellous by poiting back to this remembrance of George A. Pieler's and mine for Forbes.com:

The 13 Best Recordings of Claudio Abbado: A Remembrance

...and this portrait of Abbado's I made for the lovely but now defunct European edition of Auditorium Magazine.

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Not The CD Of The Week: Claudio Abbado's Croaking Swansong

Merry Fourth Day of Christmas to You!

…They are sapped of energy and zest and fall on the floor like a limp squid; it never sparks any fireworks – like a damp squib. In the Mendelssohn, it’s perhaps less surprising. Firstly: For Felix to roll out his inspired, ingenious youth’s Concert Overture to feature length resulted perhaps in too much of a good thing. Secondly: I’ve always found Abbado’s recordings of Mendelssohn, however much praised by others, on the boring side (contrast those with Dohnanyi and the Vienna Philharmonic, for example)… but even then, not as boring as this. …

-> Not The CD Of The Week: Claudio Abbado's Croaking Swansong

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Forbes Classical CD Of The Week: Bruckner from Deutsche Grammophon

Happy First Advent Sunday to You!

…Barenboim is like a box of chocolates: You never know what you’re gonna get : sloppy, uncaring in one concert, brilliantly shaped sumptuousness the next. Bruckner’s Fourth at this year’s Salzburg Festival was the former. The live recording of the Fourth with his Berlin Staatskapelle the latter. This is now joined by this Seventh of his third – uneven but intermittently brilliant – cycle*… and it also lands on the sunny Barenboim side:…

-> Classical CD Of The Week: Bruckner from Deutsche Grammophon

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Dip Your Ears, No. 214 (The Final Abbado Dud)

#morninglistening to #Abbado’s last concert w/@berlinphil in #Mendelssohn & #Berlioz.#cl… https://t.co/y1xkYB2KDm pic.twitter.com/vINpseVXl1

— Jens F. Laurson (@ClassicalCritic) September 3, 2016

F.Mendelssohn-B., 'Dream', H.Berlioz, Symphonique fantastique C.Abbado / Berlin Philharmonic et al. Berlin Philharmonic H.Berlioz, Symphonique fantastique (E.Varèse, Ionisation) M.Jansons / BRSO BR Klassik

You wouldn’t buy this luxurious, $62 set – “Claudio Abbado – The Last Concert” – for the music it contains: One disc of Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and one of Berlioz’ Symphonique fantastique. So does it make sense to review the performances as if they competed with all the others that are out there? It doesn’t: If just the music were your concern, this set would not competitive because it is a.) very expensive, b.) designed specifically so as not to fit any CD-, book-, or DVD- shelf, and c.) because the performances are, pace Claudio Abbado, middling and very boring. I’m sure the orchestra played their hearts out for him, but it doesn’t amount to any sort of excitement, which is almost shocking, given the repertoire – especially the Berlioz. (Compare this to Mariss Jansons’ recent account with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, for maximum contrast.) The reason to get this might be the enjoyment one gets out its impeccable presentation, the accompanying essays and photos, or the DVD of said concert. But, speaking of the music, you might be tempted to get the $15 mp3 version that Amazon et al. offer. This brings us back to reason C:

The limply conducting Abbado manages the unimaginable and sucks all the life out these two works. They are sapped of energy and zest and fall on the floor like a limp squid; it never sparks any fireworks -- like a damp squib. In the Mendelssohn it’s perhaps less surprising; I’ve always found those London recordings of his – especially the symphonies, however much praised by others – on the boring side (compare those to Dohnanyi/Decca, for example, and Maag/Decca for the ‘Dream’). But even then, not nearly as boring as this. If you want to do yourself and your memory of Abbado a favor, pick any one (or all) of the recordings George Pieler and I assembled in this tribute on Forbes: The 13 Best Recordings of Claudio Abbado: A Remembrance and give this a pass.

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On Forbes: Boxing Classical Music: Claudio Abbado on Sony/RCA

Boxing Classical Music: Claudio Abbado on Sony/RCA

The preamble to this review—a cursory glance at the state of the state of box sets in classical music—precedes the first of what will be three (the orchestral works conducted by Ferenc Fricsay’s on Deutsche Grammophon) This second installment takes Claudio Abbado’s recordings for Sony/RCA as its example.

Having covered Ferenc Fricsay box set, let’s turn to the Abbado Box that Sony put forth. It covers his output for that label spanning 22 years (1976-1997) and his most important orchestral stations (including La Scala, 1971-1986, the LSO, 1975-1987, Vienna State Opera, 1986-1991, and Chicago, where he was the principal guest conductor for three years in the 80s) up to and including (some of) his taking stewardship of the Berlin Philharmonic (1989-2002)....

Continue reading here, at Forbes.com

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Dip Your Ears, No. 185 (Abbado from Pre-Lucerne)

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.
 

On Forbes: The 13 Best Recordings of Claudio Abbado: A Remembrance

“When a fine artist dies, we hear that it is a major loss to art. This is usually gross exaggeration: when Mozart died short of 36 years age, just as his career was really taking off, that was a great loss to art. Ditto for Schubert’s demise at 31 or when Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga died days short of his 20^th birthday, with so much promise of future greatness.

But when an accomplished and celebrated artist dies in the autumn of their years, with great accomplishments behind them, not that much ahead of them, and often after they have retired or passed their artistic peak, it isn’t in any meaningful way a loss to the greater community. (Though it certainly is one to friends and family). Instead, one should react with gratitude and joy for having been given so much by the artist, and amazement at how much these women and men were allowed to touch our lives—living on in the memories and legacies, recollections of ours and influences on us...

Continue reading here, at Forbes.com

"The Return of the King" - Claudio Abbado in Mahler's 6th

G. Mahler, Symphony No. 6, C. Abbado / BPh

Claudio Abbado’s Mahler is always an event. “The Return of the Former King,” remarked a Berlin newspaper, noting Abbado’s first concert with the Berlin Philharmonic since he stepped down from his post as music director in 2002. The result was this Mahler 6th – a further step towards a complete (?) Mahler cycle of Abbado’s recorded with the Berliners in live performances. Although Abbado’s Mahler seldom strikes me as the most notable performance of any particular Mahler symphony (his accounts of the 7th, both with Chicago and Berlin, excepted), I’d declare the Italian maestro the supreme Mahler conductor of our times in a heartbeat.

Generally, Abbado combines an uncanny ability for lyrical lines with complete mastery of the rhythmic subtleties and insights that allow for superior absorption of the music. He never sacrifices the emotional content in favor of analytical rigor – yet he can hardly be accused of wringing every last ounce of feeling out of the notes (à la la Bernstein – not that there’s anything wrong with that… in Mahler, at any rate). Barbirolli brings more rawness; Zander a zanier punch; Bernstein dances and brings the Jewish elements to the fore; MTT has some of the finest touches when it comes to dramatic arch and unending lines; Boulez analyzes like none other, offering tremendous insights; Chailly knows all about orchestral polish. What has Abbado here that others don’t? Try him for his unimposing grasp of the music, his quiet, absolute authority, and the commitment he gets from the players in his orchestra, down to the last fiddler and the fourth flute.

G. Mahler, Symphony No. 6, B. Zander

There’s humanity in his Mahler – and a universal message rather than a singular point of view. Sometimes that is more obvious (apart from the aforementioned 7ths, in the 2nd from Lucerne and 3rd from Berlin), sometimes less (5th and 9th from Berlin). This 6th symphony, perhaps the hardest to enjoy upon initial meeting, is a fierce struggle between life and optimism on one side and death and resignation on the other. It’s hard on our senses, but with several listenings it will invariably yield meaning. Indeed, to me it’s like an open book compared to the 7th which I find rather more impenetrable. Perhaps it is graspable because of it being designed like a classical symphony – though of a size and with outgrowths as if it had vacationed on Three Mile Island. The last movement alone is longer than anything Brahms ever wrote.

The 6th also contains two favorite debate items for Mahlerians. Should the Scherzo – so similar to the opening Allegro - be played as the second movement (as Mahler composed it and initially published the score) or after the falsely calm Andante as the third movement (as Mahler always performed it himself)? The other point that gets the Mahler-lover all excited is the question of whether to employ two or three ‘Hammer-blows’ in the finale. These crushing thumps (for which Mahler had a specially constructed device in mind) symbolizes (none too subtle at that) the ‘cutting down’, the felling of the symphony’s hero in midstride. Once – and he gets back up, marching on with determination. Twice – getting up, still… and seemingly overcoming adversity again. And then, the third blow falls, and this time for good – a final, fatal blow. Each one of these blows should go to the bone of the chilled listener. Mahler composed the third – but withdrew it before the first performance. Superstition – fear of its prophetic power? – is the often credited reason for that decision, at least by those who restore that awful, terrifying third blow.

The first controversy is somewhat muted by the programmability of our CD player but remains an important point in live performances (and presumably recordings of live performances). Abbado opts for “Mahler the Performer” and takes the Andante first. I myself am agnostic on the issue. Or rather: ignorant enough to side with whoever's good explanation for either choice I have heard most recently. If Abbado says "Andante first," then so be it.

G. Mahler, Symphony No. 6, "Sir John"

When it comes to the hammer blows though, I am in the camp that demands three. I don’t find the effect cheap but overwhelming instead. The “superstition argument” strikes me as very plausible. After all, this concerns the man who even tried to avoid writing a 9th symphony – by wedging Das Lied between the 8th and "9th" – for fear of the precedence set by Beethoven, Dvořák, and Bruckner). The argument that the third blow should be “imagined” – expected but withheld – does not jive with me, either. Not only is it hard for me to imagine something so real and specific on the account of its absence, but the third blow itself does not come at the ‘expected’ time anyway. Rather, it is delayed by a few bars, opening hope for a few seconds that the pinnacle has been successfully passed after all… only to strike all the harder, more devastatingly into the hero’s neck when no longer expected. I get goosebumps just thinking about it… and am not wont to give it up in my ideal 6th.

Unfortunately – for me – Abbado does; dampening my excitement about this installment by a good margin. It isn’t for that reason, though, that I can’t warm up to this recording altogether. It’s too nice, not gripping enough; it tells a story, rather than living it. It is in complete (but not necessarily good) contrast to the foam-at-the-mouth Barbirolli 6th. The sound is good for a live recording, but too murky to enthuse; pianissimos too subtle to hear or notice in regular listening mode. To hear the final notes – plucked A’s in the strings – I had to put on headphones and crank the stereo all the way up. Winds and strings are often surprisingly indistinct from one another.

G. Mahler, Symphony No. 6, HvK

I want to rave about Abbado’s Mahler, but this release does not give me much to play with in this issue. Perhaps the surround sound SACD, just issued, improves the matter, but I doubt anything will turn this into my favorite 6th, yet. (Apparently, the dynamic level is low on the SACD, too.) Maybe I am missing something here, as I've heard others love this recording, but I just don't know what it is. Those who don't like the rushing, unsubtle, and clipped Zander recording might find their match here. An Abbado fan won’t be talked out of this by my review (I could not even talk myself out of it), because the playing and the long lines are superb, anyway… but it’s certainly no first sixth and not altogether recommended.

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