Intermezzo

The day Abbado caught the tube

When Claudio Abbado took the Lucerne Festival Orchestra to Beijing in 2009 it was his first visit since a pioneering trip in 1973, at the height of the Cultural Revolution.

By then 76, and suffering from stomach cancer, he kept a low profile. Despite immense press and public interest, he turned down all interview requests and stayed at a quiet hotel several miles away from the concert venue. Although more used to chauffeured cars and private jets, he took the subway every day.

"From Guomao Station to Tiananmen West, Abbado stood in the middle of the crowd," the Beijing Evening Post reported. "Regrettably, no one recognised who he was and no one would give their seat to this elderly man. But he seemed to be enjoying himself," the paper added.

Barenboim to conduct La Scala's Abbado tribute

Pallbearers carry the coffin of Claudio Abbado to the Church of Santi Vitale e Agricola in Bologna. (AP Photo/Gianfilippo Oggioni, Lapresse)

On Monday night, Daniel Barenboim will conduct the La Scala orchestra  in a tribute to the late Claudio Abbado. They will perform the funeral march from Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 to an empty house, a tradition dating back to the death of Arturo Toscanini in 1957.

The performance will be relayed live outside the opera house. 

More photos from Bologna.

Claudio Abbado, R.I.P.

Tragic news.  Claudio Abbado is dead.

The great conductor, one of the very few who could make music a truly transcendental experience, passed away peacefully at his Bologna home this morning, surrounded by his family. By eerie coincidence, I walked past the very building yesterday.

Abbado conducted everything, everyone and everwhere that mattered. The breadth of  his repertoire was staggering; his musical generosity unequalled.  We saw too little of him in London.

Above, part of Il canto sospeso by the conductor's great friend Luigi Nono, recorded by Abbado in 1992 with the Berliner Philharmoniker.

(Biography and photos) 

Martha Argerich - London date

First up on Claudio Abbado's Royal Festival Hall date with the Orchestra Mozart: Haydn's Surprise Symphony.

And second: a surprise pianist.

Substituting for the previously-advertised Maria Joao Pires on 1 October is the elusive Martha Argerich.

Mozart's Piano Concerto No.9 in E flat is currently on the bill, but I wouldn't be surprised to see that change.

Still plenty of tickets left, but mostly at the back.

Salzburg Festival mini-marathon

Hagen Quartett / Zürcher Ballett -  Felsenreitschule, 28 July 2012
Orchestra Mozart Bologna / Arnold Schoenberg Chor / Claudio Abbado - Haus für Mozart, 28 July 2012
Mozarteumorchester Salzburg / Ivor Bolton -Mozarteum, 29 July 2012

Dance is not a core element of the Salzburg Festival, but new Intendant Alexander Pereira's old buddy Heinz Spoerli stepped down as head of the Zurich Opera Ballet last month. And what better way to mark a retirement at the age of 72 than to spend weeks working like a dog producing three one act ballets that will only be seen twice?

Claudio Abbado, back in Berlin

Berliner Philharmoniker / Claudio Abbado / Anna Prohaska / Maurizio Pollini - Philharmonie Berlin, 13 May 2011

Friday night at the Philharmonie marked the start of Berlin's Mahler Week, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the composer's death on 18 May 1911. But the generous two hour programme wasn't Mahler all the way - just the Adagio from the unfinished 10th Symphony. As two years of Mahler saturation drip to a close, that was plenty enough for my well-sated palate.