90 minutes of tension so thick you could conduct it yourself.
“It would be hard to find anything greater, more significant or more moving anywhere in musical life today: total harmony of mind and heart, poetry and outcry, fear and consolation, knowing and feeling,” declared the Berne paper ‘Der Bund’ after this stunning performance of Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony in August 2003 by the newly founded Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Claudio Abbado had formed this ensemble from famous instrumentalists, celebrated chamber-musicians and experienced soloists from the world’s best orchestras, and the event was sold out months in advance. The ‘Neue Zürcher Zeitung’ reported: “Once again the applause at the end was unequalled; the immense final chord … broke a tension that had lasted over 90 minutes without relaxing for a moment.”
Direction
Abbado's minimal gestures, maximum impact conducting.
Sound
That final chord could reset your entire nervous system.
Production
Lucerne Festival Orchestra: ringers assembled for one transcendent night.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The Lucerne Festival Orchestra became Abbado's late-career laboratory, proving star soloists could shed ego for collective transcendence.
Abbado recorded this symphony three times; this 2003 live performance is widely considered his definitive statement, never surpassed in the studio.
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