Claudio Abbado’s earliest Mendelssohn symphony recordings, made long before his international celebrity and prestigious music directorships, reveal a young conductor of considerable talent. His way with Mendelssohn was sensitive and ingratiating, paying special attention to the composer’s unique orchestral palette. The Italian symphony receives a breezy, lighthearted reading, while the Scottish has Abbado emphasizing the work’s darker hues. Both of these readings have the edge over his remakes in terms of character and freshness (though not in recorded sound). Peter Maag’s recently reissued recording (on Decca Legends) has the London Symphony playing with more grit than on either of Abbado’s recordings (he also did a set with the LSO for Deutsche Grammophon in the 1980s)–but for my money the best of all are Riccardo Muti’s Philharmonia performances on EMI, which virtually seethe with the intense drama that lurks just below the surface in these scores. Unfortunately, this latter set is nearly impossible to find. Abbado’s isn’t, and with its warm sound and Eloquence price, you won’t be depriving yourself.
