Abbado/LSO concerts were generally well broadcast by the BBC, and many of his LSO/Salzburg and Japan ones were by NHK. His Beethoven cycle of the symphonies and concertos is certainly available complete (much of it was issued on a superb Japanese series called 100 Best). He got better airtime than Muti and the Philharmonia (who also got some interesting performances released on 100 Best - unsurprisingly, some of the best Tchaikovsky you'll ever hear).
Marc is partially correct about Abbado's LSO Mahler - there is a live recording of the First Symphony made in between the ones he set down in Chicago and Berlin during the 1980's. I did a comparative review of it here: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Feb/Mahler-sy1-survey-LD.pdf . The live LSO account is not all gain.
Best,
Lee
I wrote this review more than twenty-years ago! Frankly, I forgot until I read it yesterday I had even written it. As with several reviews I wrote twenty-years ago, even ten-years ago, I have revised my opinion of the discs and the conductors. Abbado is a case in point. Boulez is another. Unfortunately, the internet doesn't allow me to forget what I write - so I have to live with it. There are many, many Abbado discs I would now disown reviews of (his Lucerne Mahler 2, for example - even though I was at the concert).
I had suggested to the editors here an idea to submit an updated review, or at least some kind of revision to my initial views on some of the discs I reviewed in the past. It was not something they wanted to do.
As to your point about the Abbado LSO years - yes, I agree. But none of his Mahler made it to disc - the orchestra were most miffed he went off to Chicago or Vienna to make the recordings instead. But, if you can get hold of his LSO London, Salzburg or Tokyo Mahler then yes - it's better than almost anything he did later. As far as I know the only Elgar Abbado ever conducted - the cello concerto with Yo-Yo Ma - was also with the LSO. A pity - it's absolutely sublime.
Dear Rosebud
Always good to read differing opinions on the Message Board - for that is all reviews are, an opinion, usually from an individual who may have had access to a larger number of recordings than usual upon which to base their conclusions on the recording under consideration.
As for the review you mention, in my Conspectus on Mahler VII's recordings, a little shy of 140 versions were included (see: https://0jg558.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Mahler-sy7-survey-LD.pdf , from which all three of Abbado's commercial recordings were considered (Chicago, Berlin and Lucerne). I actually concluded that, somewhat to my surprise, the Berlin account was the finest of the three, so in many respects my views are in tune with Marc's own (or at least his views at the time of writing the review). It is one of the very best versions of all.
To allow some context and balance, the next Mahler Conspectus to appear written by me will be of the Eighth Symphony and I am happy to reveal even at this early stage that I will not be including Abbado's account as a front-runner. And in my last Conspectus, of Puccini's Turandot , Karajan's version was included as a wildcard. So I hope that reassures you of my own impartiality, as well as going some way to endorsing Marc Bridle's views (not that such a fine critic needs anything like that from me).
That said, please feel free to add to the conversation on which versions of the Mahler VII you think are the best: https://members2.boardhost.com/MusicWebUK/msg/1670950391.html , especially since you do not appear to rate any by Claudio Abbado, as all opinions and views are welcome !
Best wishes
Lee
"Nothing I've heard, either live or disc, matches late Abbado in this music."
Really, and that's...saying something? In this age of political correctness, it seems to me that we want Abbado to succeed because he was dying, much like the hoot-y Ferrier. Give me the Abbado of the LSO years.
"Karajanized 'monochromatism'...." If anyone wants to call out an internet classical forum newbie trying to sound "in the know," the above is exactly what one can expect him to say. Yes Dorothy, vonK took beautification (and knob twittling in the control room) a little too far in his late years, but that leaves 30+ years of otherwise remarkable results; a voluptuous yet crystal clear orchestral sound in Berlin that -- in my experience -- is unmatched. Then there is his Philharmonia era....
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