Claudio Abbado

[Mme. Hermine]

A New York Times obituary for Claudio Abbado, who passed away at age 80:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/arts/music/claudio-abbado-italian-conductor-dies-at-80.html?_r=0

Claudio Abbado, a conductor whose refined interpretations of a large symphonic and operatic repertory won him the directorships of several of the world’s most revered musical institutions — including La Scala, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna State Opera and the Berlin Philharmonic — died on Monday. He was 80.

[dirac]

So sorry to hear this. Thanks for posting, Mme. Hermine.

Tributes from various parties in The Guardian:

Napolitano said that Abbado had confronted his health problems with "extraordinary willpower" right up until the end. "The passing of Claudio Abbado is the cause of strong emotion and pain for me personally and of deep grief for Italy and culture," he said. "I would like to pay tribute, not only as an old friend and admirer, but as a representative of the nation and institutions of the republic, to the man who honoured our country's great musical tradition in Europe and throughout the world."

[Quiggin]

Some comments to the Times obituary point out that Allan Kozinn neglected to say much about Abbado's health problems and how they affected – deepened – his conducting. It was very much a topic of discussion during the past ten years.

Also that the Bernard Holland review Kozinn cited was actually a negative one. Holland said, "Beethoven’s rough surfaces are sanded and polished to a shine. The sweep of a melodic line takes precedence over the absolute clarity of inner voices" – which is sometimes not a good thing.

On the other hand, David Nice (part of dirac's link above) says –

A recording producer defined his special gift as a sense of "absolute pulse" – more precisely, an unerring sense of the right and natural tempo relations in a piece that could give shape and meaning even to the most seemingly amorphous of works, and within that a supple life to the individual musical phrases that no contemporary has equalled.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jan/20/claudio-abbado

& Andrew Clark sums it up best at the Financial Times –

The great paradox about Claudo Abbado who has died at his home in Bologna at the age of 80, was how someone so uncommunicative in rehearsal and in private could open up such powerful lines of communication in performance; how a conductor who was the opposite of a domineering careerist could reach the pinnacle of a profession notorious for its big egos...

He will be remembered above all for his Mahler, which was more tender, linear and melodic than most: like his Wozzeck it was subtle and beautiful rather than jaggedly neurotic. He was a superb interpreter of Schubert, Rossini and the second Daphnis suite, to which he brought sweeping power. As an opera conductor he returned again and again to pieces that were difficult to pull off – Boris, Pelléas, Fierrabras, Simon Boccanegra, Don Carlos. His Mozart was a little pedestrian, his Brahms serious and faithful, while in Beethoven he was an old-school conductor who, unusually, was willing to learn from modern “period” style.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/10a61928-ecaa-11dd-a534-0000779fd2ac.html?siteedition=intl#axzz2r0RuRnrM

[KarenAG]

What a beautiful soul was Maestro Abbado and we shall miss him. Rest in Peace, dear Sir.

[Helene]

From Janos Gereben:

https://www.sfcv.org/article/addio-claudio-abbado1933-2014

Rest in peace, Maestro Abbado.

[Helene]

medici.tv is making the Abbado Mahler's Ninth Symphony with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra from 2010 available for free until 31 January (CET):

http://www.medici.tv/?utm_source=Mainlist&utm_campaign=9e303dc358-20140123_nl_en&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ae558c6ab2-9e303dc358-304904869#/claudio-abbado-mahler-9-lucerne-festival-2010