MAHLER: SYMPHONIES 5, 6 ,7 & 9 – ABBADO, LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA, GUSTAV MAHLER JUDENORCHESTER (4 Blu-Rays) EuroArts

Claudio Abbado has realised a dream with his new Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The orchestra, an exclusive ensemble of handpicked orchestral musicians, has set new standards in the field of classical music with exceptional soloists such as violinist Kolja Blacher, flutist Emanuel Pahud and clarinettist Sabine Meyer on the first desks. In August 2004 they performed in the Lucerne Festival Hall, presenting a programme that, once again, confirmed Claudio Abbado’s fame as a supreme Mahler conductor. His long-time association with Mahler ensures a marvellous reading of the composer’s Fifth and most popular Symphony, which became world-famous as the soundtrack to Visconti’s film “Death in Venice”. An innovative special feature makes this audio-visually appealing DVD even more attractive. The film is shot using a multi-angle perspective, which enables the viewer to switch easily from the regular to the “Conductor” Camera thus experiencing Claudio Abbado from the orchestra’s perspective. The program is a wonderful homage to the interplay between orchestra and conductor celebrating the composer and a triumphant masterwork – Gustav Mahler’s glorious 5th symphony.

MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 6

This is an elite ensemble founded by Claudio Abbado that is based on the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, to which are added internationally renowned soloists and chamber musicians. Marking the centenary of the symphony’s premiere in 1906, Abbado leads a heart-felt rendition of Mahler’s tragic and prophetic Symphony No. 6; the performance was made all the more powerful because of Abbado’s long association with Mahler’s music.

MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 7

“It’s different having best friends together. Everyone is there to enjoy making music, to take pleasure, to play with enthusiasm, with passion. They are prepared to do any crazy thing I ask them for the sake of the music. To fly, to walk through fire.” – Claudio Abbado “Has there ever been a suaver, more transparent Mahler performance or one in which everything stays so beautifully in tune?… Abbado’s music-making is a celebration of the purest joy.” – Gramophone

Fanfare
There’s a realistic woodiness and a sense of an object with a hollow cavity in the reproduction of massed string basses in an especially exposed passage during the second movement. The representation of guitar and mandolin in Nachtmusik II is exquisite – their parts are quite easy to appreciate without any bloating of the instrumental images.

MusicWeb International
Pitched straight into the Rondo-Finale we’re given a taut, muscular view of what often seems a rhetorical, undecided movement. In between the attack of timps and bay of brass the dance-like episodes are given a wonderful lilt. And like Burns’ Tam o’ Shanter and his trusty steed – pursued by witches and warlocks – the music gallops across the drawbridge to triumph and safety. It’s a bracing ride, greeted by a well-deserved roar of approval.

This is a mighty, long-shadowed Mahler Seventh; Abbado confronts all its quirks and quiddities and persuades us this is how the symphony should go. If only the sonics were up to the standards of more recent Blu-rays this would be even more desirable. Still, if I were to award stars for sound and performance – as one of our rivals is wont to do – I’d happily give it 8/10.

MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 9

The history of Claudio Abbado’s relationship to Mahler is something quite special in itself. He has been established as a leading Mahler interpreter for so many years that it is easy to underestimate the role he has played in creating the huge appetite for Mahler’s music that today is a prominent feature of worldwide musical culture.

‘Together the conductor Claudio Abbado, the cream of young European musicians who make up this outstanding orchestra infused the symphony with a luminosity that glowed with an inner brilliance.’ La Stampa