Claudio Abbado RIP

[Ferretfancy]

Several of us here went to what was to be his last Prom - Mahler 3 in 2007 (according to the archive - was it that long ago?). Having a good view from the stalls, I was impressed at how much it took out of him physically and as he left the podium he gave a slight smile which seemed like relief. Memorable occasion, distinguished career.

I was deeply moved by that Mahler 3, as I was by so many Abbado performances. This a huge loss to music, but he will not be forgotten, and we can still listen to the wonders he produced with such grace as a fine human being.

[amateur51]

Last night I was playing a Blu Ray of Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in Mahler 1. My son came in and was asking who the conductor was. I gave him a brief bio including his bout with Gastric Cancer. I told him that I had seen Abbado
conduct the Berlin PO on tour in Chicago in 2001 soon after his treatment and that he looked so frail and gaunt that I was afraid he wouldn't be able to finish the concert. My son gestured to Abbado on the TV monitor "Well, he looks ok here" . Now this sad news.
I saw him conduct the CSO a couple of times in the 1980s, when he and Barenboim were Principal Guest Conductors.
When Solti stepped down the competition was between DB and Abbado to replace him. Abbado got Berlin as the "consolation prize". I once lunched with the (now retired) Manager of the Orchestra, who had a fund of hilarious Abbado stories. R.I.P.

Are any of these stories fit to print in an obituary slot, rfg?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A great loss. I saw him conduct the VPO in the RFH once (along with the same orchestra with Karl Bohm on the following day in the RAH). A truly great conductor.

In one of my first copies of Gramophone, Decca was advertising him as a young conductor! How time passes for us all.

[Colonel Danby]

A sad passing of a truly great conductor. OK, he was only human, and he did have his faults (they didn't call him 'bawdy Claude' for nothing as Viktoria Mullova will attest) but as a maestro he was among the best of his generation. I was fortunate to see him on numerous occasions, though the highlights were probably his proms performance with the Berlin Phil of Brahms 2nd piano concerto with Alfred Brendel (whose recording I currently play in tribute) and Mahler 4 with Studer in the early 90s, and the concert he gave with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester with Mussorgsky and Bruckner 5. Quite outstanding musicianship.

I know that he had bad health for many years, but he continued to conduct through all adversity, and his work in Lucerne was an inspiration to all.

RIP Claudio Abbado

[Stanfordian]

Just received the news about the death of maestro Claudio Abbado

The death of Claudio Abbado is a sad loss to the classical music world. I was to see him conduct in June at Dresden; it would have been my first time.

[Karafan]

Oh what dreadful news. A fine musician and a fine human being. Those beautifully elegant baton gestures and bearing of such refinement and poise bringing forth such wonderful musicmaking. What an awful loss.

RIP Maestro

[Nick Armstrong]

I was struck by how small he was and apparently modest and shy.

Yes that was my impression too, when I loomed out of the dark behind the RFH after a Mahler 7 performance in the 1980s and engaged him in conversation about unfinished symphonies (Mahler, Schubert)

I was always very struck by his conducting everything from memory: amazing. All that musical knowledge and insight gone... that is so sad...

...save for all the precious recordings - and as you say ammy, his legacy in the shape of thousands of young musicians in particular, to whom he devoted so much time.

[remdataram]

He was, IMHO, the greatest living conductor.

I saw him conduct Mahler No.2 at the RFH when he deputised for Solti. A truly fantastic evening.

We are so fortunate that he has left such a fantastic legacy of recordings.

R.I.P. Claudio, a great, great Conductor

[Prommer]

Several of us here went to what was to be his last Prom - Mahler 3 in 2007 (according to the archive - was it that long ago?). Having a good view from the stalls, I was impressed at how much it took out of him physically and as he left the podium he gave a slight smile which seemed like relief. Memorable occasion, distinguished career.

He came back with the Lucerners to do Bruckner 5 at the RFH a year or two ago - that was also very memorable. But the Mahler 3 at the Proms was an absolute knockout.

[Nick Armstrong]

In one of my first copies of Gramophone, Decca was advertising him as a young conductor! How time passes for us all.

I know... Absurdly it always came a slight shock to me (especially in the last few years) to see a photo of him looking anything older than this



...which is how he looked when I first started buying his recordings and hearing him in concert... It was a bonus to me in my late teens to discover that not all conductors were Klemperer & his lookalikes who peopled my parents' LP collection!

[mathias broucek]

Abbado RIP

Sad news. I still remember vividly his work with the LSO in the mid-late 1980s and very much enjoyed the contents of the big box DG put out last year.

RIP

[BBMmk2]

Sad news. I still remember vividly his work with the LSO in the mid-late 1980s and very much enjoyed the contents of the big box DG put out last year.

RIP

He set about to do a cycle of Mahler with the LSO, during this time and he had quite a difficult time with the board of the orchestra to get the project off the ground.

[Zucchini]

I was quite touched when I read Isabelle Faust's unusual and eloquent lines in the CD booklet of their wonderful Beethoven/Berg collaboration:

"To make music with Claudio Abbado is an infinite joy, a genuine key to the magic of music. I would like to express my sincerest thanks for his confidence and my boundless admiration for his artistry"

[bluestateprommer]

R3 has a live performance of the Schubert 'Unfinished' Symphony with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra from just a few months back available:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01p0qcr

It was paired with Bruckner 9, and the broadcast was on R3 just after Christmas. No thread on it here, so no idea how many here heard it. I caught it just before the 1 week cutoff, along with the other concert of Brahms, Schoenberg & Beethoven by CA and the LFO. The LSO and Berlin Phil have tribute pages on their sites:

http://www.lso.co.uk/claudio-abbado-1933-2014

http://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/titelgeschichten/claudio-abbado/

[Barbirollians]

R3 has a live performance of the Schubert 'Unfinished' Symphony with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra from just a few months back available:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01p0qcr

It was paired with Bruckner 9, and the broadcast was on R3 just after Christmas. No thread on it here, so no idea how many here heard it. I caught it just before the 1 week cutoff, along with the other concert of Brahms, Schoenberg & Beethoven by CA and the LFO. The LSO and Berlin Phil have tribute pages on their sites:

http://www.lso.co.uk/claudio-abbado-1933-2014

http://www.berliner-philharmoniker.d...laudio-abbado/

Yes - shocking how little a real musical event was trailed on Radio 3 . I missed them too .

His Schubert Unfinished with the COE is treasurable so I shall look forward to hearing this