and Pepe's ringing endorsement of Abbado's Mozart recordings:Mozart: Symphonies Nos 29, 33, 35, 38 & 41; Orchestra Mozart/ Abbado
(Archiv, 2 CDs)
Also reviewed: Mozart: The Violin Concertos; Sinfonia Concertante K364; Carmignola/ Waskiewicz/ Orchestra Mozart/ Abbado
5 out of 5
Claudio Abbado's ever greater immersion in Mozart has been one of the musical glories of recent years. If everything Abbado conducts seems to aspire to the naturalness and intimacy of chamber music, that quality is nowhere more obvious than in his approach to Mozart. This pair of releases features the conductor with an ensemble that was founded four years ago in Bologna almost, it seems, as an attempt to create an Italian counterpart to the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with which Abbado has worked so regularly over the past decade. There's one significant difference between the two groups, though; where the Mahler CO plays exclusively on modern instruments, the Orchestra Mozart appears to use either modern or period instruments as required. These two sets illustrate that flexibility. The symphonies, taken from concerts in Italy in 2005 and 2006, appear to be played on modern instruments at standard concert pitch (A = 440Hz), while the recordings of the violin concertos with Giuliano Carmignola, on the other hand, sound as if they use period instruments tuned at the slightly lower A = 430Hz.
What remains constant between the two collections, though, is the almost miraculous conducting, with its exuberant, lively tempi, perfectly balanced lighter-than-air textures, and exquisite attention to the smallest details of phrasing and articulation. The sense of the players listening as intently to each other as they do to following Abbado's directions is obvious in every bar. The symphonies are an unalloyed joy - with gloriously natural phrasing and a palpable delight in the music's deftness and the fertility of its invention. Here the brisk tempi are no problem at all - quite the opposite when that energy and joie de vivre can be channelled to such exhilarating effect, in the Jupiter Symphony above all. But there are a few moments in the violin concertos, and especially in the Sinfonia Concertante (in which Carmignola is joined by viola player Danusha Waskiewicz), when the music could benefit from a little more room to breathe, though Abbado and his soloists do show that the slow movement of the Sinfonia doesn't need to be taken as an indulgent adagio to weave its magical spell
I just had to buy this box set:Jose Echenique wrote:Some thoughts on the Abbado recordings. They have tremendous historical importance because they are the first recordings by a major, major non-specialist conductor (not to put down wonderful Sir Charles Mackerras who also recorded often with the OAE) with period instruments, and they are very fine, lyrical, warm, Italianate, but....the playing though fine in general, is not in the class of the Orchestra of the XVIII Century or the English Baroque Soloists. Abbado does conduct in period fashion, and it´s fascinating to compare these with the earlier recordings he made with the LSO, you almost feel his admitting that THIS is the way to do it!
So, I love them, and find immensely moving that even near the end of his life, Abbado had the courage to accept what well all know: that it´s not possible to play XVIII Century music with 20th Century instruments and manners, it takes an extremely intelligent 80 years old man to do that.
Symphonies No. 29, 33, 35, 38, 39, 40 & 41
Violin Concertos No. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5
The Wind Concertos
Horn Concertos No. 1, 2, 3 & 4
Orchestra Mozart · Claudio Abbado
