NEW YORK (AP) - It seems as if Claudio Abbado took over the Berlin Philharmonic only yesterday.
Elected as Herbert von Karajan's successor in October 1989, Abbado is starting his final season as artistic director of one of the world's finest orchestras before handing it over to Sir
Simon Rattle next fall.
Based on Friday and Saturday night's concerts at Carnegie Hall, the first stop on a five-city U.S. tour, he leaves an orchestra much changed from the one he inherited following von Karajan's 35-year tenure.
Gone is von Karajan's search for sonic perfection at the expense of emotion. Under Abbado, the orchestra has taken a lighter, more transparent tone, with more prominence to a brass and woodwind section that is unmatched.
And Abbado's conducting also has changed following stomach cancer surgery in July last year. The programs, dominated by Beethoven's Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Symphonies, produced far different results than the Beethoven cycle he led with the Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in the mid-1980s.
At age 68, he is thinner and grayer following his medical problems, but he has lost none of his energy and dynamism on the podium. The Beethoven was softer and more velvety this time around, elegant yet rustic. When the French horns rang out, the sounds of the Vienna Woods were clear.
He used fewer strings than some other conductors for these works: four double basses instead of eight, as one example. The result was a certain elegance, with colors more pronounced. The overall impact was not one of force; instead, a big line arched as if one section melted into the next.
The interplay between the flute and the horns in the final movement of the "Pastoral'' symphony was unforgettable. The Fifth, perhaps the most familiar of all works, shone with all its different colors.
Yet, while there was a tautness, a certain electricity was missing in this approach, one that was constant through von Karajan's tenure. Even with pianist Maurizio Pollini as the soloist Friday night in Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1, there was a feeling that something was being left back, that Abbado was reining in the players. The music somehow never quite let loose.
Perhaps the best moment came in the encore to Friday night's concert. Originally, Abbado had programmed Wagner pieces for the second half of Friday night's concert and Mahler's Seventh for Saturday, but those plans were scrapped after last month's terrorist attacks.
But after Beethoven's Seventh on Friday night, dozens of musicians streamed on stage, bulking up the orchestra. Abbado restored the Prelude and Liebestod (Lovedeath) from "Tristan und Isolde.''
Here all the emotions poured out. It was impossible not to think of the conductor's medical problems and the music had a certain poignancy as wave after wave of the famous chords rippled out.
