Claudio Abbado: Lucerne Festival 2010 (2010)

Five years after first conducting the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra in their Venezuelan home, Claudio Abbado continues his commitment to this stunning ensemble in this first joint audiovisual concert recording. Prokofievs extrovert Scythian Suite is a gift for the boundless energy of these young players, while the intricacy and anguish of Bergs Lulu-Suite are an Abbado speciality, with soprano Anna Prohaska, in her Lucerne Festival debut, singing the heroines dazzling statement of self-justification. The concert ends with an impassioned account of Tchaikovskys Pathétique, his final symphony, one of the most moving works in music history.