Bruckner 5 Abbado Lucerne Festival Orch RFH 2011

[Ein Heldenleben]

Thought I’d start a Bruckner 5 thread for the very good reason that there doesn’t appear to be one AND there’s a lovely performance in progress on Evening Concert at the moment . I think it was Abbado’s last London appearance with the orchestra . The billing is a bit ambiguous it might have been his last London appearance with any orchestra.

[Petrushka]

I was present at that concert and will not forget it. I'm sure I'm correct in saying that this was Abbado's last London concert. He was scheduled to subsequently conduct the Orchestra Mozart in the RFH, a concert taken over by Bernard Haitink.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I was present at that concert and will not forget it. I'm sure I'm correct in saying that this was Abbado's last London concert. He was scheduled to subsequently conduct the Orchestra Mozart in the RFH, a concert taken over by Bernard Haitink.

It’s absolutely tremendous - the length of melodic line he sustained in the Adagio . Finale completely gripping …despite coughs !

[DracoM]

Wonderful!!

[HighlandDougie]

I too was there - it doesn’t seem like ten years ago. I’ve been trying to remember what came before the Bruckner - Mozart? And conducted by Antonello Manacorda? Whom I recognised from the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra/Mahler CO. Or is my memory playing tricks? I also remember a youngish couple in the row in front of us who had brought their c.4 year old offspring with them. I wish that I could say that the child was so overwhelmed by the music and the performance that he/she sat spellbound throughout. Alas, mama clearly felt the wall of rage surrounding her so she departed with the very bored and fidgety child before the final movement.

[Petrushka]

I too was there - it doesn’t seem like ten years ago. I’ve been trying to remember what came before the Bruckner - Mozart? And conducted by Antonello Manacorda?.

It was the Mozart 'Haffner' Symphony No 35 and it was Abbado himself who conducted it. I was perched above the orchestra in one of the topmost boxes to the right of the stage as you look at it, a splendid eagle's eye view but the photos I took at the concert's end didn't turn out too good.

[edashtav]

I was present at that concert and will not forget it. I'm sure I'm correct in saying that this was Abbado's last London concert. He was scheduled to subsequently conduct the Orchestra Mozart in the RFH, a concert taken over by Bernard Haitink.

I was there, too, the only time I heard Abbado conduct live. I have neither heard better performances of either work and both were enhanced by magical pianissimos with some of the whole string band entries seemingly coming from ‘over the hills and far away’. The advantage of having extra quiet effects available is that climaxes may be built over long time and sustained over paragraphs without resort to overblown brass.

The Concert remains as my finest in almost seventy years of concert-going and that opinion was reinforced through hearing the concert again last evening on Radio 3.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I wasn’t there but after listening last night I wish I had been . Remarkable that so many forumites were there and thanks for the reminiscences - what a night it must have been. Those last bars which (outside Wagner and Beethoven ) contain just about my all-time favourite 19th cent harmonic progressions are still echoing in my head this morning.

[HighlandDougie]

It was the Mozart 'Haffner' Symphony No 35 and it was Abbado himself who conducted it. I was perched above the orchestra in one of the topmost boxes to the right of the stage as you look at it, a splendid eagle's eye view but the photos I took at the concert's end didn't turn out too good.

Thanks. How could I have forgotten Abbado conducting the Mozart, especially as I remember it being a particularly stylish performance. I think that I had seen Manacorda conduct somewhere shortly before the RFH concert (at which he was very much present - I suspect that he had been helping Abbado "prepare" the orchestra, not that such a stellar group of players would have required much preparation), hence the confusion in my mind. Anyway, age, a terrible thing ...

[ahinton]

Sadly I didn't attend the performance either but also wish that I had; I;ve heard some pretty stunning (as well as less than stunning) Bruckner 5 performances over the years but nothing to touch this one!

[LHC]

I too was there that evening, but hadn’t realised it was being repeated last night. I’ll have to listen on catch up.

The performance of the Bruckner from Lucerne earlier in the year was released on DVD and Blu-ray, and I have a copy of that already.

[pastoralguy]

I was there, too, the only time I heard Abbado conduct live.

I was lucky enough to hear Abbado a few times, mainly at the Edinburgh Festival, but the time I remember the most was with The LSO at the Usher Hall circa 1980 as part of a Shell/LSO tour. You would have thought that the performance of Brahms 4 was the only one the LSO and Abbado were going to give, such was their commitment. Iirc, it was one of eight consecutive performances.

[vibratoforever]

I wasn't there at the concert but I did hear sections of the relay on Tuesday via my car radio. I wasn't impressed, especially by the adagio, and was a bit surprised to learn it was from an Abbado concert.

I was in the Albert Hall for Horenstein's 1971 Prom and later Gunter Wand's and both wonderful performances are still there to be heard.

[Bryn]

I wasn't there at the concert but I did hear sections of the relay on Tuesday via my car radio. I wasn't impressed, especially by the adagio, and was a bit surprised to learn it was from an Abbado concert. . . .

Not enough of the Joe Hill IWW influence?

[BBMmk2]

What a pity I missed it!