Review: Abbado's Wildly Inconsistent Vienna Legacy

[@Xavier_Diabolu]

In the worst Marvel movie ever, the villain wants to collect all of the Abbado Cubes so he can micromanage the universe.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

LOL!

[@allthisuselessbeauty-kr7]

I agree Abbado's recordings with the LSO are a more fitting tribute to his talent - I'm thinking of his absolutely scorching Alexander Nevsky, Romeo & Juliet selection (Decca), an exciting Bartok Miraculous Mandarin, and fine Stravinsky and Ravel collections. Oh yes and his earlier Berg 3 pieces for orchestra, together with the Lulu Suite are also fantastic IMHO. I'd also shout out for his really impressive RCA Mussorgsky collection, including the original version of St John's Night on the Bare Mountain. This is truly the kind of thing he should be remembered for!

[@elliotdavies3555]

Abbado's Beethoven 6 from 1987 with VPO is the ultimate performance of the work in my opinion... Why, you ask?? Because of those amazing, raspy horns!! The performance is as polished as a studio version, it's paced beautifully and the players give it everything they've got. Those woodwind/horn solos are to die for! ❤

[@rtmca1]

Agree

[@paulwgibson]

Future video suggestion: Top unmade Box set wish list. Abbado/LSO, but what else? I would love a Columbia and RCA complete Ormandy a la Szell box, but shutter at the number of discs and price. Also complete DG Markevitch. Cheers David!

[@ftumschk]

I haven't heard Abbado's recording of Nono's "Lebeslied" in this set, but his recording of Nono's "Como una ola de fuerza y luz" with Pollini and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra is one of my favourites.

[@aaronrabushka2180]

Wasn't the Nono done with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra?

[@aaronrabushka2180]

Ah--the Nono Como una Ola, done with Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

[@ftumschk]

@@aaronrabushka2180 Correct, with soprano Slavka Taskova and Maurizio Pollini.

[@dmntuba]

Since I'm watching again I need to chime in again. When I was in my 20's/30's I followed Abbado much more (was a fan). I thought when he got Berlin I really believed he was going to ROCK the classical world....he didn't, and I walked away from him disappointed. Without a doubt Abbado's best work was with LSO & Chicago...and a few Vienna. He was NOT on fire, but a fire that management & labels kept throwing gas on and he burned out fast.

[@tonythetrulypuffy2258]

so true😁

[@tillhaeberlen1798]

Can you make a video about Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra playing Mahler ?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I don't think so. They are mostly very mediocre and I have no desire to hear them again or suggest that anyone else should.

[@thomasvendetti3742]

I enjoy all of your programs very much, and I thank you for your careful preparation and the sharing of your knowledge and opinions. Perhaps you may wish to employ different themes: the best recordings of Toscanini, Horowitz, Heifetz etc., or perhaps the best of the Boston Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic etc, or the mono recordings you must hear, or performances that you have changed your mind about over time. I think you are a thoughtful guy and can move into other themes with excellence. Thank you again. Tom V

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Sure, I can do that, and probably will, but this is just the beginning and right now I'm trying to build a decent stock of videos--it's only been 5 weeks, but I appreciate the smart suggestions and if you stick with me you'll find that I will follow quite a few of them!

[@tatters1232006]

So Mr Hurwitz when are you going to review that ginormous Karajan box?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

What's to review? It's the ginormous Karajan Box.

[@colinwrubleski7627]

Not sure why the idea popped into my brain (after a post-lunch perambulation...), but assuming your thesis about Abbado is correct, that his body of work with the LSO is generally the best, it seems logical to conclude that the pressures of recording in the UK, what with the extremely-restricted rehearsal and recording schedule usually prevalent there, plus the London players well-known gift for accurate sight-reading, that it precluded giving C.A. the time to indulge his instinct to "fuss-budget". Thoughts-?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Quite possible. Or he was just younger and more enthusiastic. Who knows? We can only go from the audible results.

[@chutton988]

Gold among the dross. Thanks for the tips regarding what to hear and what to skip!

[@jfddoc]

I really like the Tchaikovsky 4th and got it years ago on the strength of a Penguin Guide "Rosette." Well, I guess even a stopped watch.... :)

[@giacomofirpo2477]

I think that is always difficult to conduct such an orchestra like Wiener Philharmoniker or Berliner Philharmoniker, due to the legendary status of "the best orchestra in the world". Well, this is pure rhetorical. They are terrific orchestras of course, but the excellence depends often by the conductor. Perhaps Abbado sometimes failed to "avoid" this rhetoric status with Wiener Philharmoniker. Here in Italy Abbado is a legend; however, he was a terrific musician and conductor but...he was a man, and he wasn't perfect...;) thank you for this very interesting review

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

He's a legend because he was famous and Italian, not because anyone cared about his musical ability. "Legend" is a function of publicity, not talent.

[@giacomofirpo2477]

@@DavesClassicalGuide Yes of course...undoubtely in Italy we have a great tradition of conductors and terrific musicians, even if musical culture in italy is almost overlooked; however is the same problem with Toscanini: he's a "legend"...but there are many other italian conductors such as De Sabata and Marinuzzi that were extraordinary musicians and astonishing conductors (according to some italian critics Marinuzzi was better than Toscanini, but who knows?!), however they don't have acquired the "legendary" status...why?

[@Fafner888]

I think the Beethoven overtures cd is very well done (better than the symphonies), maybe you should give them another listen!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I did actually, quite recently, because I was working on discographies for my upcoming Beethoven book (due out in December), They aren't terrible, but they aren't impressive either, relatively speaking. My memory of them is quite fresh.

[@llamadeusmozart]

I feel like Abbado - just like his friend Pollini - came out of a tradition that wanted to bring fresh wind into the sometimes sticky, stuffy room of post-war classical music where things were oven overtly romanticized, polished, all harsh contrasts removed, etc. Bach and Mozart were played like Tchaikovsky, etc. But Abbado - just like Pollini - sometimes went from one extreme to the other and the results are often ... dull. Just like many of Boulez' recordings. They just removed so much passion from the music that it all sounds bloodless and dull. However, LATE Abbado and LATE Pollini often found the most perfect balance of emotion and rationality (or however you want to name these seemingly dualistic contrasts). Like, I really LOVE Pollini's Well-tempered Clavier although it's a very "modern" and "romantic" recording. And what Abbado did with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra (admittedly, arguably the best orchestra in the world right now so it's not too hard to make them sound brilliant - conductors are overrated, orchestras underrated, anyway) is one of the absolute highlights of classical music.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

The Lucerne Festival Orchestra is a second-rate pickup ensemble, and it sounds like one.

[@llamadeusmozart]

@@DavesClassicalGuide No orchestra with Albrecht Mayer as solo oboist and Sabine Meyer as clarinet is "second-rate". You're polemical for the sake of being polemical.

[@antiksur8883]

​@@llamadeusmozartThis is an idiotic comment. If fabulous soloists could just jump together and make a great ensemble, then four fabulous string players could come together and invariably make a great string quartet. But that's not true at all, is it? The reference versions of string quartets are ALWAYS by established groups. Because they require seamlessly blending together, which four individual soloists may have no predilection for.

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

Does this box not include his early Tchaikovsky 2nd? It’s one of his best recordings.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

That was not made in Vienna. It was the New Philharmonia. As I said, he did his best work in London!

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

David Hurwitz [slaps forehead]. Of course! It was coupled with the 4th on CD and I forgot it was with a different orchestra.

[@00000ppp]

Boulez notations are great, you should listen to them once more

[@MorganHayes_Composer.Pianist]

Glamorous orchestral showpieces and very approachable. I was thrilled when I saw Boulez rehearsing them at the Barbican as a teenager. In some ways I prefer the piano pieces upon which they’re based though.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I've heard them a million times. I think they're junk, like a great deal of Boulez's music.

[@rtmca1]

This guy is not a fan of Abbado or Maazel, 2 conductors who have changed my life greatly for the better with their work with the Vienna Phil. I love Abbado's Vienna Beethoven cycle. I love Maazel’s Mahler cycle.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

That is not true. I am not a fan of lousy performances, no matter who conducts them. Both Abbado and Maazel made many poor recordings, but also more than a few great ones, and I have been happy to say so. The fact that they may have changed your life does not make a positive case for them or alter this assessment.

[@rtmca1]

@@DavesClassicalGuide I see your point. But I was not trying to disprove your opinions, only to go on record as a novice, that these recordings still have their benefits for the many who hear them.

[@TheCastlepoet]

Ai-yai-yai! Is Claudio (wherever he is) still collecting royalties??? His agent must be making out like a bandit. Forget "Abbado: The LSO Legacy." When is "Abbado: The Lucerne Collection" coming out? Not to mention "Abbado: The Mahler Chamber Orchestra Years"; "Abbado: The Complete COE Recordings"; "Abbado Conducts the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester"; and "Abbado: the European Union Youth Orchestra Omnibus Set." Nono? No no no no no! ~ John Drexel

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Abbado in Tauride. Abbado in Aulis. Beach Blanket Abbado.

[@thezealouscellist1966]

@@DavesClassicalGuide ..and St. Abbado-in-the-Fields!

[@barryguerrero7652]

Best thing I ever saw Abbado conduct in concert was Tchaik. 4. Go figure! The Mahler I saw him conduct in RFH in London was flat as a pancake. Dullsville.

[@brucehunter1115]

Brave, and bravo’

[@morrigambist]

"Weisenhaus" means "orphanage".

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Yes, I know.

[@klemmelchi9408]

Bravo! This is probably the best episode recently. I especially enjoy watching you trash Abbado’s Vienna Mahler and Beethoven. This is just so much fun.