Claudio Abbado dies

[Alan Howe]

The death has been announced of Claudio Abbado (at the age of 80). In my view we have just lost the world's greatest conductor...

[alberto]

That Claudio Abbado was the greatest living conductor sorted also from a probing of Gramophone some years ago.The magazine asked  plenty of (great or qualified) conductors to nominate the three best conductors in the whole history; then Gramophone compiled a list of the 20 who got more votes.
I gather that Gramophone is not particularly, and not without  reasons, loved here. But that result may be shared.

[giles.enders]

I can only echo Alan's sentiments. It is not often that someone in the music world leaves such a great legacy. 

[Alan Howe]

If I had to choose one recorded performance to save from my collection, it would be Abbado's Mahler 9 (on Blu-ray) with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The effect of the performance can be judged from the audience's reception - which begins with a prolonged silence. Applause only breaks out when Abbado himself has finished contemplating the silence into which the music has finally disappeared. Extraordinary. Profoundly moving. Unforgettable. 

[mbhaub]

I managed to hear him live once, with the Vienna Phil doing Mahler 1. That performance still rings in my ear. The abrupt key change in the finale lifted you out of the seat it was so thrilling. No performance since - Dudamel, Thomas, Litton, and others has come close to Abbado. He left a splendid recorded legacy, but I regret that he never took up Schmidt's 4th so beloved by his teacher, Hans Swarowsky. I will have to check out that Mahler 9th (indeed, the whole set).

[LateRomantic75]

I agree, Abbado's Mahler is superb (especially in the Seventh and the Ninth). He's also turned out some superlative Tchaikovsky over his career. In both composers' music, he brings out passion and drama without succumbing to Bernsteinian indulgence (not to disparage Lenny, who is my favorite conductor of all time).

[semloh]

I must confess that I have very few of Abbado's recordings, although I do have the versions of Mahler's 9th and 10th he did with the VPO on DGG. Somehow, he flew under my radar.... In view of the comments here, I obviously should have paid him more attention! I have no doubt that he was a fine man as well as a great conductor, and that he will be fondly remembered. 

[alberto]

I have attended to sixteen concerts and one operatic performance conducted by Claudio Abbado (not moving often and not for long: 13 concerts in my city, Torino, two concert and an opera in Milano, one concert in London).
So, among the "great" conductors , he has been by a good margin the more frequently heard live.
The last time was a Mozart Requiem in 2008 (the first already Mozart, "Le Nozze di Figaro" in the '70s).
I have a great deal of Cds (and Lps) and several DVDs, but I will sadly miss the hope of a next live occasion.