Review: Is This The Least Necessary Abbado Box Ever?

This is the Claudio Abbado "Symphony" Collection: 41 CDs, featuring Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert (I know, not discussed in the video), Mendelssohn, Bruckner, Brahms and Mahler--out of which perhaps a third are superior. Need I say more? Well, I do say more. So enjoy the talk, if not necessarily the product.
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[@bendingcaesar65]

My favorite Abbado box is his opera box. Most performances on it are actually great.

[@djquinn4212]

Happy to hear positive things said about that live Berlin Mahler 1, I always enjoyed that performance.

[@murraylow4523]

As an aside, I really like the cover art on his Schubert discs, it was when DG was really making an effort in these things and not just sticking photos of Abbado et al on the front… So I kept the original discs, and I think his COE cycle is a bit better than you think, partly because the Rossini elements come through well. Even the 9th is quite Rossinian (especially the finale) I think…

[@GastonBulbous]

If you are considering buying two or more of those smaller Abbado boxes dedicated to an individual composer (the Mendelssohn box, the Brahms box, the Mahler box, etc.), then this cube is a bargain, as it simply compiles all those smaller boxes together into this single set at a reduced price. And you get all the other, lesser stuff essentially free so you can judge for yourself.

[@enzomartinelli763]

What a great box by Maestro Abbado! Looking forward to Abbado in La Habana and Caracas.

[@abrain]

I like the Abbado Haydn COE recordings but maybe I need to re-visit some other recordings including some time-honored recommended versions that are around here somewhere. Has DH done Haydn "Paris" and "London" symphonies here?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Yes. Have a look at the Haydn playlist.

[@gartenkauz2152]

"Abbado in Trinidad' I definitly want to hear!

[@murraylow4523]

And Tobago lol

[@johnschwarze2807]

I was excited to purchase these back in the day. I was so disappointed. Everything you mentioned I wholeheartedly agree with. They are sitting in my collection gathering dust.

[@langsamwozzeck]

I swear that when I saw the words "least necessary," my mind immediately went to Claudio Abbado.

[@johngreen1176]

This was actually my first ever box set and my introduction to the Austro-German symphonic repertoire. I liked the Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Brahms and didn't like the Haydn, though I have no point of comparison to that. I would be interested to know what you think of the Schubert, which I don't think you mentioned in your review? Anyway, thank you for another very interesting video.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I didn't mention it because the pages were missing in my booklet! But it wouldn't have changed anything. It's not bad, not great, but more annoyingly the best thing about it--the performance of Joachim's orchestration of the Grand Duo as a symphony--was left out.

[@johngreen1176]

@@DavesClassicalGuide Thank you, that is helpful. So would it then be worth it to try to acquire Abbado's recording of the Grand Duo or would it be better to just get the original piano piece? I assume that the Grand Duo was originally included because it was thought to be a lost symphony, but then scholars decided it actually wasn't, but is it still a worthwhile piece to listen to orchestrated?

[@murraylow4523]

Yes the Abbado disc if you can get it singly, second hand, is rather good. Obvs it’s different from the pianos version

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

@@johngreen1176 Yes. It's a great work in either version.

[@bigg2988]

@@johngreen1176 I am afraid the editing team of this big box just left it out on purpose, since the Grand Duo was always known as a Schubert piano 4 hands piece orchestrated by another man. So technically you are hearing a "symphony by Joachim on themes of Schubert". :p Buuut if the curators were at all consistent, does that mean they also left out the orchestrated songs added to the same Abbado cycle, with von Otter and Quasthoff? Too bad then! :(

[@jmponcela]

Related to this video... I've always wondered why Claudio Abbado never recorded Schumann's symphonies.

[@goodmanmusica]

There is No.2 in his last years

[@stevouk]

The Mahler 8 in Berlin was Abbado's one-and-only (recorded) performance. Apparently, he *really* didn't like it as a symphony, and it was missing from his earlier Chicago/Vienna/London cycle. He left it to the very end of his Lucerne cycle, and as we know, fate caught up with him...

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

It was a sign.

[@specialforces101]

How did he get away with it?

[@bigg2988]

Ahh, but it is precisely Abbado's Schubert cycle (along with his Mendelssohn) that probably ought to have received the honorary mention. A huge competition in this repertoire (Kertesz! Blomstedt!), but the more "lyrical", smaller-band Schubert also reflects one "school of thought" of what the composer could sound like. Probably just as readily, if not more, I return to the couplings for this Chamber Orchestra of Europe cycle, which include the Masses 2 and 6, a program of Lieder orchestrated by various other luminaries from Brahms to Webern, and the ultimate curiosity in a performance of Grand Duo in orchestration by Joseph Joachim. Where else can one hear that? :))

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Not in this box, that's for sure.

[@ikweetvanniks]

question : did you ever heard Abbado Live?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Many times, and I've discussed several of them in these videos.

[@Don-md6wn]

"out of which perhaps a third are superior" - is that lower than the batting average of most conductors?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Who cares? We're talking about this collection.

[@jameslee2943]

"Vegetarian Box" LOL. So many Abbado boxes and yet no Dohnányi box (for example). Sigh.

[@richardwiley3676]

I bought this box a few years ago and regretted it quite quickly. There are better performances of everything elsewhere.

[@markfarrington5183]

God be good to him, but it's hard to imagine anyone but his descendants listening to Abbado, say, 50 years from now, the way we still listen to Szell, Reiner, van Beinum, Beecham, Toscanini, and even some Furtwangler. I also can't believe the sheer moola invested in Abbado right up to now. Chacon a son gout, I guess. (Apologies, but on this system I can't add the proper French accents.)

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Well, he is idolized in Italy and much of Europe.

[@Don-md6wn]

It's hard for me to imagine anybody listening to Toscanini, Furtwangler or Beecham today with so many recordings available that are as good or better and in much better sound.

[@gavingriffiths2633]

My suspicion is that, for some years after his demise, DG were hunting for a new Karajan - who really did make them pots and pots of money because he was believed by your average punter to be the 'go-to' version in everything! Hence the willingness to invest in Abbado.....

[@specialforces101]

That would explain it

[@goodmanmusica]

abbado was a good conductor but was often overrated.