Claudio Abbado RIP

[Barbirollians]

Still some recordings to come and here a particular treat with one of his very greatest collaborators !

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/DG/4791033

[Prommer]

It is such a shame that his Mahler cycle with the Lucerners remains now incomplete - I believe he had done them all in recent years, with the exception of the 8th, which was scheduled for last summer or the year before, but then the programme was changed.

[Barbirollians]

The news came of course the other day that the Orchestra Mozart was winding itself up - one can only presume they did not want to go on without him - a sad tale.

[Flay]

Very sad news

[Bax-of-Delights]

I heard the news on the 12 noon bulletin on R4 as I was driving round the M25. A short obit was followed by a few bars from what was described as his recording of Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" but I am pretty sure it was Mahler's 10th.

[Nick Armstrong]

Playing the Andante (3rd movement ) from this at the moment



One of the pillars of my collection since not long after it came out. Abbado keeps something in reserve for the final climax and then lets it catch ablaze with a sort of pure fire like no one else...

[ardcarp]

A short obit was followed by a few bars from what was described as his recording of Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" but I am pretty sure it was Mahler's 10th.

I heard that snippet too, also in the car, and thought how ill-judged it was as a 'tribute' to the great man. Mr Average, let alone the music-lover, would make nothing of it at all. But it is good that our main broadcaster of news gave pride of place to Abbado's passing.

[gurnemanz]

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![/COLOR]

That resonates with me. I got his Beethoven 7 in the late 60s as one of my first classical LPs. Favourite recordings on my shelves: Mahler 7, Schubert 5, Schubert Song Orchestrations with Otter and Qasthoff, live Mozart Piano Concertos with Maria João Pires .... but how few I actually seem to know. Presto have e mailed me a link to 500 recordings.

[HighlandDougie]

It's a very sad day when one of one's musical heroes for the past 45 years is no longer with us. I'm just grateful that my concert-going allowed me to see him on a number of red-letter occasions which have remained with me since - with the LSO in the late 1970s (the most exciting Tchaikovsky I've ever heard) and then the 1980s; BPO then the Lucerne Orchestra more recently, with the CoE between times (wonderful Bruckner and Mahler but also Luigi Nono and Webern). What I will most remember is his work with young musicians - the ECYO and then the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra in Mahler (a stunning 7th), Schönberg's Gürrelieder, Debussy and Ravel (with Martha Argerich). Playing of an astonishingly high quality where he seemed to have cast a wonderful spell over the orchestra to produce unforgettable music-making.

[edashtav]

His spirit and music-making will live on , not only on disk but in so many minds. Some of my greaest musical experiences came through Abbado's baton. I think that I cherish most hearing him conduct Bruckner's 5th with his Lucerne Festival Orchestra in London a few years ago.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I particularly admire his Lucerne Mozart Requiem, with a very good pick-and-mix of different editions.

[DublinJimbo]

A terrible loss indeed. We have lost the greatest of them all with his passing.

His performances of Mahler and Bruckner with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra are incandescent, while the sight of such a seemingly frail, emaciated man inspiring his forces to such extraordinary music-making is an astonishing experience. He returned after the cancer treatment as if newly minted: I find it astonishing that, after such a long and successful career, it is the achievements of the last ten years or so which cement his legacy as an all-time great.

[verismissimo]

I remember his arrival on the international scene in the late 1960s - such clarity that here was a major new talent. And his recordings, from the start, with the best in the business - Berlin Philharmonic and London Symphony (both with Martha Argerich), then the extraordinary Debussy Nocturnes and Ravel Daphnis Suite 2 with the Boston Symphony in 1970. Playing that now on LP purchased that year.

[Parry1912]

I saw him a few times with the BPO and the Gustav Mahler Youth Orch. Each one a wonderful experience. Very sad to hear of his passing.

[Black Swan]

I am gutted by his passing a truly great conductor. My one great disappointment is that he did not complete his Lucerne Festival Mahler Cycle with the 8th Symphony. I only heard of his passing on my way home on In Tune. Sean Rafferty played an excerpt from the 8th Symphony. I am listening to his Berlin recording of Bruckner 7 now. And I am happy that I heard the news on In Tune and not Breakfast as I can't image the inane babbling the 'Clemy' would put us through.