New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic 1988

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The New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic in 1988 was the 48th New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic and took place on January 1, 1988 at the Wiener Musikverein . It was conducted for the first time by Claudio Abbado .

Historical background

From its inception until 1986, the New Year's Concert was conducted by only four conductors. During the Nazi years and again from 1948 to 1954, Clemens Krauss directed the concert series that he initiated . While Krauss was banned from appearing immediately after the fall of the Nazi regime, the unencumbered Strauss specialist Josef Krips took over the conductors twice. After the death of Clemens Krauss in 1955, he was followed by the violinist Willi Boskovsky , concertmaster of the Philharmonic, who conducted the concert 25 times in a row. This was followed by seven concerts from 1980 with the conductor Lorin Maazel , who was director of the Vienna State Opera from 1982 to 1984 . After that, the Vienna Philharmonic decided to invite a different conductor every year.

Among the first three invited were conductors who - along with Karl Böhm and Josef Krips - had significantly shaped the orchestra in different ways in the post-war years : 1987 Herbert von Karajan , State Opera Director from 1957 to 1964, the following year Claudio Abbado, Music Director of the State Opera from 1986 , and finally in 1989 Carlos Kleiber .

Cooperation between the Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado

Claudio Abbado, 1982

It was an extremely long, constructive and productive working relationship that connected the orchestra with the Milanese conductor. In 1965, when Abbado was 32 years old, he made his debut with the Philharmonic Orchestra - with Gustav Mahler's Second Symphony at the Salzburg Festival . Abbado had graduated from the conservatory in his hometown and then further studies in Vienna with Hans Swarowsky . During his apprenticeship years he had developed a broad repertoire that ranged "From Bach to Ligeti, from Handel to Webern, from Mozart to Boulez, from Schubert to Rihm". This is how the Vienna Philharmonic describe it on their website. He has led the Viennese orchestra more than 500 times, in operas and concerts in Vienna, Salzburg, North America, Japan and China. Abbado was a universalist, but the main areas of focus can still be clearly identified. In addition to Rossini, Verdi, Nono, almost every form of music that came from Vienna was at the center of his work: Mozart and Schubert first, Don Giovanni at the Vienna State Opera and the rediscovery of Fierrabras in the Theater an der Wien . Beethoven cycles in 1987 and 1988 in New York, Tokyo and Paris. The two New Year's concerts in 1988 and 1991, dedicated to the Strauss dynasty. All four symphonies by Brahms , including Bruckner . Again and again Gustav Mahler, whom he explained to the Vienna Philharmonic in parallel with Leonard Bernstein with such great dedication that his symphonies and orchestral songs are now part of the orchestra's standard repertoire. And finally the Vienna School , Schönberg , Berg , Webern , the Gurre-Lieder , A Survivor from Warsaw , Wozzeck at the Vienna State Opera, the Passacaglia for orchestra . In his obituary, Clemens Heilsberg describes the "broadening of horizons that his work meant for us." Abbado was not only the orchestra's most loyal "travel conductor" (138 concerts on three continents), but also the door opener for steps into the modern age that had previously been carefully avoided. From 1971 he was a permanent guest conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic. In 1986 he was appointed music director of the Vienna State Opera and in 1987 he took over the function of general music director of the City of Vienna, a position that was created especially for him and which he held until 1991. In October 1989 Abbado was appointed Artistic Director of the orchestra by the Berlin Philharmonic , replacing Herbert von Karajan. In 1994 he also took over the management of the Salzburg Easter Festival . This meant that he was employed twice for the "competition", which inevitably led to a reduction in Vienna's obligations. In 1997 he conducted his last concert with the Viennese.

Essential parts of the collaboration between the conductor and the orchestra are preserved as audio documents. There are live recordings, recordings and video recordings of the opera productions in Vienna and Salzburg.

program

List of works and order correspond to the CD release and the information provided by the Vienna Philharmonic.

occupation

Quote

“Seldom has a non-Viennese savored Strauss's three-four time as much as Abbado. Not even Herbert von Karajan from Salzburg. "

- PROFILE. Brief review of the LP, Volume 19, issues 1-17, Wirtschafts-Trend Zeitschriftenverlag, 1988, p. 84

Recordings

A live recording of the concert was released on vinyl by Deutsche Grammophon . The LP was released in 1988. According to the track list, however, the waltz Where the Lemons Bloom and the Polka Auf der Jagd are missing .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b A new chapter in the history of the New Year's Concert . Vienna Philharmonic . accessed on December 30, 2019.
  2. ^ Elisabeth Theresia Fritz-Hilscher, Helmut Kretschmer (ed.): Vienna music history: From prehistory to the present. LIT Verlag, Münster 2011, ISBN 978-3-643-50368-8 , p. 439.
  3. ↑ Clemens Hellsberg : In memory of Claudio Abbado. Obituary. January 21, 2014, accessed December 31, 2019.
  4. ↑ New Years Concert . Wiener Philharmoniker. accessed on November 1, 2019.
  5. ^ Vienna Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado - New Years Concert 1988 . Discogs, accessed November 3, 2019.