In checking out Vincent Mouret's Mahler Discography, I find that Claudio Abbado is not represented in the listings for Das Lied von der Erde. Can it be that he has not done it? Anyone have a lead on this?
BTW, what is Abbado's current state of health? That is, has he recovered from whatever it was that caused him to cancel his appearance at Carnegie Hall last fall?
. & '
I don't normally keep that much of an eye on the goings-on on the human or personal side of the music business, so I was rather delighted (or in fact more than that, saddened: see below) to find an old piece reiterating some points made by Abbado during an unusually candid conversation in Berlin now 7 years ago. Maybe others are more up to date with all things in music and life and have already read this, but for me it offered many interesting details. For instance, his position on Das Lied v d Erde (and presumable why he hasn't recorded it...yet?) is expounded on a little; and I was surprised to learn that he actually isn't even familiar with Das Klagende Lied. There is much else that's interesting, e.g. his resurgent interest in Shostakovich' film music (apparently, he is enthused about the King Lear), and that he measures the musicality of the audiences with a Mahler gauge of sorts... On the other hand, I was not aware at all about the severity of his illness at the time (for instance, that his entire stomach was removed), which of course makes the current situation sound that much more alarming.
This is a bit off the board's mission, but has anyone got any more insight into the new Abbado/Beethoven set DG is putting out shortly (already announced in Japan and Europe at least), "based on" the recordings of the their "2001 performances in Rome" (from DG site)? The interview, too, makes references to the enthusiastic reception those performances were met with there. Got me curious; the Berlin recordings from just 2 years earlier would have been separated by not just the infinitesimally brief time inteval but also the illness and its treatment, and the new kind of sensitivity which Abbado reports below had characterized his senses ever since.
***
The Longest Pause
By Gerhard R. Koch
BERLIN. Claudio Abbado has just performed Beethoven's nine symphonies with
the Berlin Philharmonic in Rome and Vienna, and received enthusiastic
reactions from audiences, critics, the general public, politicians and
fellow musicians alike. Success in both cities was extraordinarily important
to him.
Ever since he left La Scala in Milan in 1986, he has made only rare
appearances in Italy. If Riccardo Muti, his successor in Milan, star tenor
Luciano Pavarotti and even the Italian president are asking him to conduct
at La Scala again, it almost seems to be because of a guilty conscience:
Abbado's triumphant Beethoven cycle has made it clear what the former "land
of music" lacks. The emphatic response from the Viennese points to this as
well, especially since the same critics who contributed so much toward
Abbado's resigned departure from the state opera in 1991, after all the
intrigues there, are now falling over themselves with praise.
The successes are doing Abbado a great deal of good, at any rate. They would
anyone, of course, but in his case there are other contributing factors.
Those who saw photographs of the conductor over the past few months were
shocked at how emaciated and miserable he looked. This naturally gave rise
to a great deal of speculation. This was even more of a strain upon Abbado
than the illness itself, which was indeed serious, so much so that he took
the step -- which must certainly have been difficult for him -- of
countering all the speculation. In the presence of the two Berlin physicians
who are treating him, he not only made a clear statement about his state of
health but also commented on his further plans, talked about his present
condition and also discussed several ideas and guidelines about art. He
seemed more talkative and eager to communicate than in past conversations.
Abbado made no secret of the fact that his disease was extremely serious: A
cancerous tumor had necessitated the removal of his entire stomach. He said
the operation was a complete success, and the doctors agreed: He is now out
of danger. Eating is an extraordinary problem, of course, requiring a great
deal of time, patience and discipline, but the sensational weight loss has
now been halted at any rate, and Abbado has now even gained a few pounds.
In a conversation in the evening after a rehearsal, he came across as
energetic and ready for his next assignment. He said he was looking forward
to his concert with the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, with whom he had
discussed the possibility of such a project 15 or 20 years ago in Chicago.
He approved of the fusion of jazz and symphonic music, under the slogan
"Music is Fun on Earth," though he did not seem overly enthusiastic about
such crossover activities. And even though he said he was unwilling to forgo
the lighter items on the performance program during his penultimate season
as principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic -- he is preparing
Giuseppi Verdi's "Falstaff" for the Salzburg Easter Festival -- his intense
memory of thematically serious and heavyweight concepts (Faust, Prometheus,
Shakespeare) came through clearly in conversation.
Even though the proportion of New Music in the Philharmonic's performance
programs has declined, and the orchestra's partly rather conservative public
has not appreciated everything, Abbado confessed that moving forward in
music continues to be of fundamental importance to him in every way. In this
regard he has remained true to his idol and fellow-traveler Luigi Nono, whom
he still considers the most important Italian composer of the 20th century.
Abbado is especially fascinated in retrospect by the extreme positions, such
as Nono's early work Il canto Sospeso and his late work Prometeo. He even
displayed approval, albeit guarded, of the gentle distance most people keep
from Al gran sole, the main work of Nono's Milan phase.
Yet Nono continues to be of decisive importance to him, and Abbado recalled
emphatically of how moving it was at the performance of the Canto Sospeso to
have the letters of the condemned that form its textual basis read out loud.
He was also enthusiastic about Diario polaco, another early work by Nono
that is hardly ever performed. Abbado said he had fond memories of a concert
held in the inner sanctum of the Vienna Musikverein's Golden Hall, of all
places, with new works by Nono, Wolfgang Rihm, Gyorgy Kurtag and Beat
Furrer -- and young people performing them.
The theater continues to keep Abbado active. He said that now he has the
time, he keeps on discovering new aspects of Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni,"
which he brought to the stage in Vienna with Luc Bondy, and in
Aix-en-Provence one year earlier with Peter Brook. He added that he intends
to continue working on "Tristan and Isolde," and that he is also planning a
"Parsifal" with Peter Stein for Salzburg in 2002.
Abbado is particularly interested in the big, difficult, complex works whose
structure alone defies easy accessibility. Significantly, he is most
attracted by operas that pose considerable textual problems: Mussorgsky's
"Boris Godunov" and "Khovanshchina," and Verdi's "Macbeth," "Don Carlos"
(which he has recorded in the complete French original version) and "Simon
Boccanegra." The last is possibly Abbado's favorite work, and he said that
after Milan, Vienna and Salzburg, he would like to conduct it once again in
Ferrara.
He also mentioned that he loved Mahler's Lied von der Erde and did not share
the skepticism shown in some quarters. Yet he did not seem to be utterly
exuberant about it, and said he might contemplate a performance of the final
Abschied (Farewell) on its own. He did not consider the spontaneous idea of
combining the Abschied and the introductory Adagio from Mahler's Tenth to be
at all outlandish. Abbado was only vaguely familiar with the early work Das
Klagende Lied, but at this point he asked quite frankly what others thought
of it, and said that the suggestion of working on it was worth considering.
Abbado admits to being increasingly moved these days by the music of Johann
Sebastian Bach, which he played while still a young organist and pianist.
After the St. Matthew Passion and the B Minor Mass he is now very much
involved with the St. John Passion, that self-renewing source of excitement
and inspiration. The Brandenburg Concertos, which he once recorded as a
youngster (something he doesn't like to be reminded of), are also dear to
his heart. Here he favors a truly contemporary performance practice that
also takes the historical aspect into account.
He declared a firm faith in Wilhelm Furtwängler, but considered it
impossible, at least as far as he himself was concerned, to go back to that
style of conducting Beethoven. He also referred to the new edition by
Jonathan del Mar, but conceded that Beethoven's numerous corrections always
have to be taken into consideration anew: One can only talk to a certain
extent about an "ideal version."
Abbado confirmed that Claude Debussy was for him the greatest French
composer, and said that he had conducted a great deal of his work. He also
admitted to having had a particular fondness for the music of Sergei
Prokofiev earlier in life: "The Love for Three Oranges" was the first opera
he ever conducted.
Dimitri Shostakovich did not mean much to him earlier, but that has changed,
and he is developing a new appreciation for the composer. Even though Abbado
sees Prokofiev as superior to Shostakovich in terms of elegance, wit and
lyricism, he regards the latter's grim intensity of expression, especially
in several of his scherzos, as a highly characteristic feature. Abbado said
he was planning to do what he could to promote Shostakovich's film music in
the Berlin Philharmonic, adding that he considered the incidental music to
"King Lear" to be his best, and was visibly excited at the prospect of
conducting the music live during a screening of the film.
Abbado made no secret of how deeply his health crisis affected him, and of
how he had to summon all his strength and cope with extreme challenges. The
doctors should actually have dissuaded him from the Japan tour in
November -- after all, he was conducting "Tristan and Isolde," a huge
challenge even for young conductors. The fact that the doctors reluctantly
agreed to his touring after all contributed much to his revitalization.
He candidly admitted to having discovered a kind of new sensuality: He said
he can smell, taste, see and even hear more keenly and intensely than ever
before. Even experiences such as these can have a stabilizing influence. But
he is still having to cut back in all kinds of ways. He said he had very
fond thoughts of his house in the Fex Valley of the Upper Engadine, but
added that the cold winter had done him little good because he is now so
thin.
Abbado has certainly made a major contribution to Berlin cultural life, with
all its diverse stimuli. He saw it as a shame that his New Music
initiatives, also in the context of film and theater, had not met with a
wholly favorable reception. When asked which audience he considered the
best -- Milan, Vienna, London or Berlin -- he hesitated.
But then he said that perhaps there is a criterion of artistic receptiveness
after all: the pause between the end of Mahler's Ninth and the start of the
applause. In Berlin, he said, it was markedly longer than in the other
cities. It is hard to imagine a more sublimely emphatic declaration of faith
in Berlin as a city of music.
Mar. 7, 2001
© Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2001
