Here it is:<\/p>\n
Remembering Abbado<\/h1>\nby\u00a0wijeratneworks<\/h4>\n\n <\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying under Claudio Abbado was like seeing a master taming a wild force. It\u2019s like when a magician tames a tiger: you don\u2019t understand how, but you know it\u2019s happening.\u00a0<\/em>–\u00a0Stanley Dodds, Berlin Philharmonic musician & board member (the Economist, 2014)<\/a><\/p>\n![\"abbado\"](\"http:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/01\/abbado1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nCLAUDIO ABBADO\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 my favourite conductor, and one of my favourite musicians \u2013 has died at the age of 80.<\/p>\nOnly last June,\u00a0I wrote in tribute<\/a>\u00a0as he entered his ninth decade with several highly anticipated performances ahead of him. But now, shortly after hearing the news of his passing, I\u2019m sitting in an airport lounge, struggling to find words to express the feeling of losing one of my earliest musical heroes.<\/p>\nFor me, Abbado\u2019s art represents a rare balance of mind and heart \u2013 his conducting was informed by scrupulous scholarship, yet had the ability to change water into fire at a moment\u2019s notice, igniting the concert experience when it really counted.<\/p>\n
His distinctive \u2018sound\u2019 was characterized by a leanness and lucidity (and often a lightness) that is very much to my taste but admittedly not to everyone\u2019s.<\/p>\n
I also learned whatever I could from stories of his style of leadership, to which I would compare to the \u2018democratic\u2019 directorial style of\u00a0Robert Altman<\/a>. Of Altman Tommy Lee Jones once observed<\/a>: \u201cHe was very good at letting actors think that they had more control than they actually did.\u201d One might have said the same for Abbado, who\u00a0brought the interactive ideology of chamber-music into the orchestral rehearsal room; a style of rehearsing in which the pervasive, underlying message was one of: \u201clisten, listen to each other,\u201d as opposed to a more front-led \u201cjust follow me, and it will all be ok.\u201d<\/p>\nDodds also explains:\u00a0\u201cOver the years I became accustomed to a feeling of great freedom whilst playing with him, music seeming to develop naturally under his guidance.\u00a0Off the podium Claudio came across as shy, gentle, softly spoken, a little mysterious and quite enigmatic. In performance, he became a conduit between the forces assembled on stage and the emotional narrative that resides in the music, completely transparent and without an interfering ego. [He was a]\u00a0genuinely modest human being, but when it came to music he showed his incredibly strong will. He knew exactly what he wanted, and there was no arguing with that.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(the Strad, 2014)<\/a><\/p>\nOpinions of conductors are often sharply divided, especially amongst musicians. We all\u00a0think<\/em>\u00a0we know exactly how Bach should sound, or Beethoven or Debussy should be interpreted, but the arguments seem rather futile when one considers that all great maestri<\/em>\u00a0must have reached such rarified status for possessing at least something special to offer.<\/p>\nThis is my modest, personal reminiscence of Abbado\u2019s inspiration. My views are subjective for sure, but I hope to encourage the reader, or the many young musicians I work with today, to look more closely at the recorded legacy of a truly great artist. He was also a\u00a0champion of younger talent.\u00a0We have much to learn from musicians and educators like Claudio Abbado.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying under Claudio Abbado was like seeing a master taming a wild force. It\u2019s like when a magician tames a tiger: you don\u2019t understand how, but you know it\u2019s happening.\u00a0<\/em>–\u00a0Stanley Dodds, Berlin Philharmonic musician & board member (the Economist, 2014)<\/a><\/p>\n CLAUDIO ABBADO\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 my favourite conductor, and one of my favourite musicians \u2013 has died at the age of 80.<\/p>\n Only last June,\u00a0I wrote in tribute<\/a>\u00a0as he entered his ninth decade with several highly anticipated performances ahead of him. But now, shortly after hearing the news of his passing, I\u2019m sitting in an airport lounge, struggling to find words to express the feeling of losing one of my earliest musical heroes.<\/p>\n For me, Abbado\u2019s art represents a rare balance of mind and heart \u2013 his conducting was informed by scrupulous scholarship, yet had the ability to change water into fire at a moment\u2019s notice, igniting the concert experience when it really counted.<\/p>\n His distinctive \u2018sound\u2019 was characterized by a leanness and lucidity (and often a lightness) that is very much to my taste but admittedly not to everyone\u2019s.<\/p>\n I also learned whatever I could from stories of his style of leadership, to which I would compare to the \u2018democratic\u2019 directorial style of\u00a0Robert Altman<\/a>. Of Altman Tommy Lee Jones once observed<\/a>: \u201cHe was very good at letting actors think that they had more control than they actually did.\u201d One might have said the same for Abbado, who\u00a0brought the interactive ideology of chamber-music into the orchestral rehearsal room; a style of rehearsing in which the pervasive, underlying message was one of: \u201clisten, listen to each other,\u201d as opposed to a more front-led \u201cjust follow me, and it will all be ok.\u201d<\/p>\n Dodds also explains:\u00a0\u201cOver the years I became accustomed to a feeling of great freedom whilst playing with him, music seeming to develop naturally under his guidance.\u00a0Off the podium Claudio came across as shy, gentle, softly spoken, a little mysterious and quite enigmatic. In performance, he became a conduit between the forces assembled on stage and the emotional narrative that resides in the music, completely transparent and without an interfering ego. [He was a]\u00a0genuinely modest human being, but when it came to music he showed his incredibly strong will. He knew exactly what he wanted, and there was no arguing with that.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(the Strad, 2014)<\/a><\/p>\n Opinions of conductors are often sharply divided, especially amongst musicians. We all\u00a0think<\/em>\u00a0we know exactly how Bach should sound, or Beethoven or Debussy should be interpreted, but the arguments seem rather futile when one considers that all great maestri<\/em>\u00a0must have reached such rarified status for possessing at least something special to offer.<\/p>\n This is my modest, personal reminiscence of Abbado\u2019s inspiration. My views are subjective for sure, but I hope to encourage the reader, or the many young musicians I work with today, to look more closely at the recorded legacy of a truly great artist. He was also a\u00a0champion of younger talent.\u00a0We have much to learn from musicians and educators like Claudio Abbado.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n