- Claudio Abbado Memorial Recording.
Claudio Abbado, who died on the 20th of January 2014, was closely associated with the Lucerne Festival for nearly 50 years. On this CD, the Lucerne Festival presents three previously unreleased live recordings, approved by the conductor himself.
The selections captured on this historic CD are:
Beethoven:
- Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36
Live: Lucerne, Kunsthaus, 25 August 1988, performed by Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Schubert:
- Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D759 ‘Unfinished’
Live: Lucerne, Kunsthaus, 5 September 1978, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic
Wagner:
Live: Lucerne, Kunsthaus, 25 August 1988, performed by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe
On the 5th of September 1978, Claudio Abbado and the Vienna Philharmonic performed Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ Symphony in Lucerne. It reportedly was a moving interpretation, emphasizing the lyrical character of the work. This piece also completes a circle, because Abbado also conducted the ‘Unfinished’ at his final concert, on the 26th of August 2013 in Lucerne.
On the 25th of August 1988, the festival’s 50th anniversary, Abbado and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe performed exactly the same program with which Arturo Toscanini had opened the Luzerner Festspiele in 1938. The program included Beethoven’s Second Symphony and Wagner’s ‘Siegfried Idyll’.
Claudio Abbado influenced the Lucerne Festival like no other conductor has. He made his début in 1966 together with the violinist Zino Francescatti and the Swiss Festival Orchestra.
Standing on the podium in front of this “Orchestra of Friends”, as he himself called it, Claudio Abbado ended his artistic career on the 26th of August 2013 in Lucerne, having conducted Franz Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ and Anton Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony at his last concert.
Here is Schubert’s Symphony No 8 in B minor “Unfinished” with Claudio Abbado conducting:
Finally, here is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2, with Mr. Abbado conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker:
Tags: Claudio Abbado, Lucerne Festival, Beethoven, Schubert
