Abbado

Die zweichörige Matthäus-Passion, die bereits im posthumen Andenken der Bach-Familie als die «Grosse Bassion» bezeichnet wurde, gehört nicht nur zu Bachs umfangreichsten und gewichtigsten Kirchenkompositionen. Sie hat auch seit den spektakulären Wiederaufführungen Mendelssohns und Zelters im Jahre 1829 die neuzeitliche Wahrnehmung des Komponisten wesentlich geprägt.

Auf der vorliegenden CD werden die Flöte, die Violine und die menschliche Stimme zur "Beute" dieses Mannes: Der Solo-Oboist der Berliner Philharmoniker, Albrecht Mayer, wagt sich nach dem Erfolg seiner Bach-Platte nun an Werke von W. A. Mozart und dessen Zeitgenossen Ludwig August Lebrun.

Auf der vorliegenden CD werden die Flöte, die Violine und die menschliche Stimme zur "Beute" dieses Mannes: Der Solo-Oboist der Berliner Philharmoniker, Albrecht Mayer, wagt sich nach dem Erfolg seiner Bach-Platte nun an Werke von W. A. Mozart und dessen Zeitgenossen Ludwig August Lebrun.

The Claudio Abbado recording of the Dvorak New World Symphony has managed to secure itself a place among the top digital versions of this much-recorded work, alongside the Dresden performance of James Levine, also on DG. Taken from live performances in 1997, it shows every sign of spontaniety without any loss of dramatic bite or xxcitement. Abbado makes full use of his theatrical background to bring about this effect both in the symphony and in the welcome, perfectly-chosen fill-up, and elicits peerless and attentively-detailed playing from the Berliners.

Schumann’s treatment of Goethe is a curiously uneven work, composed at various stages in the last decade of his life. Parts 1 and 2 consist of dramatic scenes, which lie somewhere between opera and oratorio, rather as in Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust; but Schumann’s third part takes the music on to an altogether higher plane, setting the mystical final scene from Goethe’s poem (the same text Mahler used in his Eighth Symphony). Recordings and performances of the complete work are rare, partly because of its length (nearly two hours) and the need for multiple soloists (ten in this performance); so this exceptionally fine new Sony set, recorded ‘live’ at Berlin concerts last year, is very welcome indeed.

Claudio Abbado uses Mussorgsky's text in a condition almost as complete as Mstislav Rostropovich's but avoiding some overlap from variant readings. He brings to his conducting the same vitality and scrupulous attention to small details that are familiar from his work in Italian opera. His cast is good throughout and particularly strong in the leading roles. This is a Boris to live with, one that gets better with repeated hearings.

Let's say your tastes usually run to the Austro-Germanic, but you already have all of Beethoven's and Brahms' symphonies, most of Bruckner's and Mahler's symphonies, and many of Mozart's and Haydn's symphonies, so now you're thinking about trying out Tchaikovsky's symphonies. The question is: how many should you get? Should you get just the famous last three symphonies? Should you get all six numbered symphonies? Should you get all six symphonies plus the Manfred Symphony. Or should you get all symphonies six plus Manfred plus the orchestral suites? The answer, of course, depends on how much of Tchaikovsky's richly melodic, fabulously colorful, and extravagantly emotional orchestral music you're up for.