I noted earlier that Claudio Abbado would have been 90 today. While I do enjoy some of his recordings, I haven’t always found most of his interpretations to be all that interesting. That is to say, they haven’t always connected with me, personally.
Undoubtedly, there will be those who feel differently. As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve got some Abbado recordings that I do like, but I don’t know that I would describe any of them as desert island material, except perhaps for his recordings with Argerich.
Granted, there is probably no conductor who has been equally successful at everything, and every conductor has an off-day. Also, music is tied to performance, so it’s always different. One night an interpretation will sing, and the next it will sink.
I’m curious, are there any other big-name conductors who, more often than not, hit you the way I describe? I know I’ve got a few.
And in case you are offended by what is, after all, merely my opinion, remember: Abbado has been adored by millions, and I’m just some schmo on the internet.
Claudio Abbado would have been 90 today. Funny, I still think of his appointment as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic as being fairly recent. Seeing this video – obviously from video tape – makes me realize just how long ago it was! 1989! He certainly had some big shoes to fill, in the wake of Karajan. I don’t know that I ever entirely bought in to the marriage, though the first time Abbado conducted the orchestra was all the way back in 1966.
For me, and I imagine for most, his best, or rather his most consistent recordings, date from his London years, or at any rate before Berlin. That’s not to say he wasn’t still capable of great work. And I’m just going by the recordings I’ve heard. I never had the privilege to hear him live.
After years of ill health (he was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2000), Abbado died in 2014 at the age of 80.
I don’t pretend to have heard everything, but here are some of my favorite Abbado recordings:
Debussy: Three Nocturnes; Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2; Scriabin: Poem of Ecstasy (w/Boston Symphony Orchestra)
Debussy: La Damoiselle élue (w/soprano Maria Ewing and the London Symphony Orchestra)
Schubert: Rosamunde: Complete Incidental Music (w/Chamber Orchestra of Europe)
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3, etc. (w/Martha Argerich and the Berlin Philharmonic)
Mussorgsky works for orchestra and chorus (w/London Symphony Orchestra)
I am less well-versed in his recordings of contemporary works by Luigi Nono, Iannis Xenakis, Pierre Boulez, etc.
I am also not as familiar with many of his opera recordings (beyond Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” and “Khovanshchina” and Schubert’s “Fierrabras”), but some of them are said to be very fine indeed. I would think Debussy’s “Pelleas and Melisande” is a safe bet, and Berg’s “Wozzeck” is regarded as a classic. But some of his Verdi recordings (“Macbeth,” “Simon Boccanegra”) have been ecstatically reviewed.
Some of the recordings I recommend are from after 1989, but of those, none of them are in Berlin. Even the one Berlin recording is from well before he was chief conductor there.
Great video of Argerich and Abbado, in all their glory, live in concert
I just learned that the Brazilian pianist, Nelson Freire, died yesterday, too young at 77.
Freire suffered multiple fractures in his right arm from a street fall in 2019. He fell on his shoulder, when trying to protect his hands. The accident led to an intricate, four-hour surgery, believed to have been successful. However, not long after, the COVID-19 pandemic prohibited international travel and public performance.
I never saw Freire in concert, but his recordings are very special indeed. And there is much to savor on YouTube. His repertoire was broad, though he seemed most at home with the Romantics – Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, and Chopin – from whose works he mined much poetry. He enjoyed a long artistic partnership and lifelong friendship with Martha Argerich, born in neighboring Argentina.
With his lack of concern for publicity and self-promotion, Freire must have made his handlers a little crazy. In interviews, he could be modest to a fault. He was always an artist who expressed himself most eloquently through his musicmaking. R.I.P.
Freire playing Chopin’s “Barcarolle” in recital in 2009
Sight-reading Liszt’s arrangement of Schumann’s “Widmung” (“Dedication”) for Argerich on a “dirty piano”
Martha Argerich, the super-virtuoso, who nonetheless plays with lyricism and feeling, is 80 years-old today. Conquering depression, conquering nerves, conquering failed marriages, conquering cancer, Argerich is unstoppable. At 80, she still has lava in her veins.
Argerich at 25, playing Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6
Argerich at 77, playing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, a work she’s stated, matter-of-factly, is easy for her
Argerich rehearsing Ravel with her ex-husband, Charles Dutoit
Argerich demonstrating how to smoke while playing the piano
Smoking hot Martha Argerich. Happy birthday to one of our great pianists, and many happy returns!
I’m not sure how sales would stand up next to Star Wars and Angry Birds, but one mad visionary has come up with a Lego Martha Argerich. Also, Beethoven, Jordi Savall, and the Oistrakh Quartet! “J.S. Bach and Church Organ” is a thing to behold:
