Abbado/Mahler I at Lucerne - Review on Classiscstodayfrance

[Fafner]

Here is it
http://www.classicstodayfrance.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=3688

well, I don't quite agree with the reviewer's small reservations (btw, on an extramusical note, I'm there all years but I can't quite see all that extreme glamour...there are VIPs for sure, but everything is very relaxed compared to the retard, disgustingly gossipped glamour of the Scala Opening, to name one ("mrs VIP no.1 is wearing this, mrs VIP no.2 is there without her husband, what?! Berlusconi isn't there this time...oh, on a sidenote, there will be music performed later tonight in case you are remotely interested"). I like my Mahler to flow naturally, I don't need the conductor to try to be interesting at all costs (cough cough...Dudamel...cough). A matter of taste, ofc...
But I can't stop wondering...why does he insist (this is not the first time) about an already released Lucerne Ninth? This puts a tiny shadow on his credibility, as there simply isn't any Lucerne Ninth so far, there will be one in some days (a concert I'm eagerly waiting for) but we won't see it on DVD/Bluray till the next year. What we have is a Rome Ninth, which is a nice performance marred (IMHO) by so-so sound which ruins the whole by a not negligeable amount (on this regard I agree with Hurwitz, something I don't do often regarding Abbado's recent Mahler recordings)...

[Fafner]

Looks like he corrected the "Ninth" error...

[barry guerrero]

I'm not crazy about any of Abbado's M1 recordings. I saw him conduct it with the LSO in the early '80s, and it was far from being special. For my taste, he consistently takes the scherzo a couple of notches too fast. At least this time, he doesn't do that stupid business of starting the scherzo slowly, and then speeding up within the first five measures or so. On dvd, I like the Fabio Luisi/Staatskapelle Dresden Mahler 1. I guess I'd say that that's more for the Dresdeners than for Luisi himself, but he certainly has youthful enthusiasm.

I thought Yuja Wang's (whatever her name is) performance of the Prokofiev 3rd piano concerto was much more interesting. Abbado has always been good with Prokofiev.

[Freddy van Maurik]

I'm not crazy about any of Abbado's M1 recordings. [...] On dvd, I like the Fabio Luisi/Staatskapelle Dresden Mahler 1. I guess I'd say that that's more for the Dresdeners than for Luisi himself, but he certainly has youthful enthusiasm. [...]

OK, maybe Abbado's M1's are not that good, but I'll still treasure his M1 from Berlin 1989 (I think it was his inaugural concert), because a TV broadcast of this perfomrance was the first time I heard Mahler, ever. I instantly fell in love with the sounds of birds and the short fanfares by the clarinets and trumpets.

On another note, my first M1 (and first Mahler-recording of any of his works) on cd was a recording by the Dresdeners under Hiroshi Wakasugi...

I've this thing for Abbado, I guess, which makes me adore his music making.

Freddy

[drfluid]

His 2nd and 6th with the same orchestra are now selling in blu-ray.
I own the DVD versions for these performances as well, but I was blown away by the quality of his M3 blu-ray. Hoping his M2 and M6 will have the same quality.

I preordered them from Amazon.

[barry guerrero]

"on cd was a recording by the Dresdeners under Hiroshi Wakasugi..."

I have that, and it's very good! Certainly the two inner movements are much more to my liking. Yes, I think Abbado's Lucerne M3 and M6 are pretty darn good. Although, I did notice that the "andante moderato" from his Lucerne M6 is about two minutes slower than on his recent BPO recording for DG.

[Fafner]

His 2nd and 6th with the same orchestra are now selling in blu-ray.
I own the DVD versions for these performances as well, but I was blown away by the quality of his M3 blu-ray. Hoping his M2 and M6 will have the same quality.

I preordered them from Amazon.

I preordered them from Prestoclassical. All Abbado/Lucerne concerts have been recorded using High Definition since the first year (2003), this was already known at that time, but I'm curious as well to see if the 2003 Resurrection recording quality will be comparable to the 2007 Third...there has been an evident improvement with image and audio quality on the DVDs from 2003 to 2009, let's see on BluRay.
On a sidenote, yesterday Abbado opened the Lucerne Festival with an outstanding performance of Beethoven's Fidelion (was there)...no videorecording was made, but Decca recorded it for a possible CD release...

[waderice]

I wonder why the Abbado Lucerne M2 was never released in Blu-ray initially, along with the DVD version?  After spending good money for the regular DVD, I now find I'll need to replace the DVD with the Blu-ray.  To me, the performance is worth the money to have it in Blu-ray.  I'll likely order his M3 Blu-ray while I'm at it.

Wade

[Fafner]

I wonder why the Abbado Lucerne M2 was never released in Blu-ray initially, along with the DVD version?  After spending good money for the regular DVD, I now find I'll need to replace the DVD with the Blu-ray.  To me, the performance is worth the money to have it in Blu-ray.  I'll likely order his M3 Blu-ray while I'm at it.

Wade

I guess they thought Bluray format wasn't common enough yet, who knows. Theoretically, if they havent't changed their mind, the plan is to complete the Mahler cycle on DVD and Bluray more or less on the same time (end 2011).
Froms the informations I got several months ago, this year they planned to release the 1th, the 5th, the 6th and the 7th on Bluray; the 2nd was set to be released next Spring, but I guess Abbado's cancellation of the Resurrection planned at the Scala at Milan last June ,which they wanted to record and release, changed their plans somehow...

[waderice]

Theoretically, if they havent't changed their mind, the plan is to complete the Mahler cycle on DVD and Bluray more or less on the same time (end 2011).
Froms the informations I got several months ago, this year they planned to release the 1th, the 5th, the 6th and the 7th on Bluray; the 2nd was set to be released next Spring, but I guess Abbado's cancellation of the Resurrection planned at the Scala at Milan last June ,which they wanted to record and release, changed their plans somehow...

Maybe I ought to wait until the entire Abbado/Lucerne cycle is finished before I purchase any Blu-ray versions.  Maybe they'll issue the complete symphonies as a Blu-ray set.  Barring any major artistic flubs on Abbado's part for the remaining symphonies, this might be worth waiting for, and would certainly be a worthy set to supplant the significantly-flawed MTT SACD cycle.  And it would be good to have the visual aspect, to boot.  Hopefully I won't have to take out a second mortgage to get any future Blu-ray set.

Wade

[Zoltan]

On a sidenote, yesterday Abbado opened the Lucerne Festival with an outstanding performance of Beethoven's Fidelio (was there)...no videorecording was made, but Decca recorded it for a possible CD release...

It's going to be on German radio as part of the ARD Radiofestival on September 4th. I never came around listening to Fidelio yet (except the ouverture(s)) so I plan to record it anyway and if people are interested I can post it for download.