[ Deutsche Grammophon Entree / CD ]
Release Date: Monday 24 March 2003
This item is only available to us via Special Order. We should be able to get it to you in 3 - 6 weeks from when you order it.
Lasting over an hour and a quarter, this massive five-movement work, composed in 1902, begins unusually with a funeral march and contains the heart-achingly beautiful Adagietto made famous in the film Death in Venice.
Claudio Abbado made his debut in 1960, at the Teatro alla Scala in his home city of Milan, and was Music Director there from 1968 to 1986. He conducted the Wiener Philharmoniker for the first time in 1965, was Music Director of the Vienna State Opera from 1986 to 1991, and in 1987 became that city's Generalmusikdirektor. In 1988 he initiated the WIEN MODERN Festival.
He was named the permanent conductor and Music Director of the Berlin Philharmonic in 1989. In 1994 he became Artistic Director of the Salzburg Easter Festival, where this orchestra has played a major role since the festival's foundation in 1967.
Claudio Abbado is the founder and Music Director of the European Community Youth Orchestra as well as the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. In 1992, he cofounded the "Berlin Encounters", where experienced instrumentalists meet with young and talented musicians. He is Artistic Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Recipient of many honors, Claudio Abbado holds the GRAN CROCE, bestowed by the Italian Republic; the CROSS OF THE LEGION OF HONOR (French Minister of Culture); and the GROSSES VERDIENSTKREUZ DES VERDIENSTORDENS (Federal Republic of Germany). In 1973, the Wiener Philharmoniker awarded him the RING OF HONOUR and in 1980 the GOLDEN NICOLAI MEDAL. In 1985 he received the Gold Medal of the International Gustav Mahler Society. On the 30th anniversary of the Salzburg Easter Festival, Claudio Abbado was presented with the GOLDENES EHRENZEICHEN by the State of Salzburg. He holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Aberdeen, Ferrara and Cambridge, and, in Vienna, is an honorary member of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and of the Konzerthausgesellschaft.
Claudio Abbado has recorded for DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON since 1967. His recordings, which have received many international prizes, include the complete symphonic works of Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Ravel, and more than a dozen opera recordings. Claudio Abbado's discography also testifies to his ongoing commitment to contemporary music.