Album

You have to listen to this disc. It justifies the whole invention of recording sound. Claudio Abbado—a man of 70 who had just recovered from a life-threatening illness—leads the Lucerne Festival Orchestra—an orchestra made of up some of the best musicians in Europe—in two of the greatest orchestral works of the fin de siècle—Debussy's exciting, exhilarating, and ecstatic La Mer and Mahler's massive, monumental, and monomaniacal Resurrection Symphony—in the cleanest, clearest, recordings ever made. Claudio Abbado had made magnificent recordings of both La Mer and the Resurrection before, but his performances here are more than magnificent: they are truly and profoundly transcendent. The Lucerne Festival Orchestra has never recorded anything before because it is an ad hoc band including the leader of the Berlin Philharmonic, all the members of Sabine Meyer's Wind Ensemble, all the members but one of the Hagen Quartett, and all the members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. But in these performances, the musicians play as if they were the world's greatest orchestra with both complete and perfect ensemble and complete and total individuality. Recorded in the crystalline acoustics of the Kultur- und Kongresszentrum on the shores of beautiful Lake Lucerne, Abbado and the Orchestra's performances are ideally reproduced in sound of staggering impact and stunning immediacy. After the last note of the Resurrection has faded into eternity, it is as if you are sitting in the tenth row center with an especially enthusiastic overweight Austrian standing next to you and applauding with delirious ecstasy. One of the greatest recordings ever made in the history of sound recording.

© James Leonard, All Music Guide

CD 1 of 2
Achille-Claude Debussy Composer La Mer: 3 symphonic sketches, L.109 Work 24:04 Lucerne Festival Orchestra Orchestra, Claudio Abbado Conductor
1	1.De l'aube à midi sur la mer	8:34			$1.49
2	2.Jeux de vagues	6:47			$0.99
3	3.Dialogue du vent et de la mer	8:43			$1.49
Gustav Mahler Composer Symphony No.2 in C- ('Resurrection') Work 1:21:13 Anna Larsson Contralto, Jose Antonio Sainz Chorus/Choir Director, Lucerne Festival Orchestra Orchestra, Eteri Gvazava Soprano, Orféon Donostiarra Chorus/Choir, Claudio Abbado Conductor
4	1.Allegro maestoso. Mit durchaus ernstem und feierlichem Ausdruck	20:45			$3.49

CD 2 of 2
1	2.Andante moderato. Sehr gemächlich. Nie Eilen	9:23			$1.49
2	3.Scherzo. In ruhig fliessender Bewegung	11:21			$1.99
3	4.Urlicht: Sehr feierlich, aber schlicht	5:04			$0.99
4	5.Im Tempo des Scherzos. Wild herausfahrend	34:40			$4.99