Abbado, interviewed by (almost) everyone
Charlotte Smith
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
When I started this job I had a wish list of feature ideas and, at the top, two overriding ambitions: to secure an interview with Martha Argerich and another with Claudio Abbado, both among the greatest musicians of our age and both notoriously elusive. Yet each has important things to impart, to teach. Thus it was when Argerich and Stephen Kovacevich interviewed each other in 2008, and thus it is now, as we finally catch up with Abbado.
Since an audience with the revered conductor is rare, I decided to make this a special occasion. Few maestros are so admired among their peers, so I opened the interview up to his distinguished colleagues, who were thrilled for the chance to quiz him and simultaneously to celebrate his remarkable career. Gramophone’s Geoffrey Norris travelled to Abbado’s home in Bologna to put both his own questions and those from the likes of Thomas Quasthoff, Roberto Alagna, Barbara Bonney, Gil Shaham, José Van Dam and Jonas Kaufmann.
He may now be on the wrong side of 75 (although as we know, interpretatively speaking, that is often the right side for conductors) and still battling ill health (he has just cancelled his planned La Scala return), but he is still pouring his energies into new challenges. As Norris observes, both the superb Lucerne Festival Orchestra and his Bologna-based Orchestra Mozart benefit from his careful attention, as do a distinguished parade of protégés: Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Harding, Yuja Wang and now Dudamel’s compatriot Diego Matheuz have received the Abbado stamp of approval. With all this, and a continuing slate of recordings, there is much to look forward to.
An urgent word about your high-street CD shop. The news that London’s Music Discount Centre is to close its last branch (at the Royal Festival Hall) comes as a personal blow, having long been a customer. Shops like this, with informed staff and a great selection, still have an important part to play in the promotion of classical music. Online has its place too, of course, but if you do still have a high street shop, please use it!
