Claudio Abbado is 80 years old today.

[josé echenique]

Auguri Maestro!!!!

[THEHORN]

Happy birthday to one of the greatest masters of conducting today . But my, he certainly has aged ! I suppose it's his unfortunate bout with stomach cancer . But he's hanging in there .

[Heck148]

Abbado is truly a great conductor. I've heard him live several times, with different orchestras, all excellent..

He definitely scores high in one criterion of great maestros - he produced outstanding results with many different, great orchestras -

CSO
LSO
VPO
BPO

to name just a few...To achieve top notch results with so many different orchestras puts him with some real elites, previous greats like Reiner and Pierre Monteux...not bad company..

[josé echenique]

He also raised the standards of the La Scala orchestra beyond recognition. In the late 70´s I heard a truly magnificent Mahler 3rd with them.

[Harold Tucker]

A few more years and this guy could really amount to something.

[some guy]

And still one of the youngest conductors around. (If "old" and "young" mean anything beyond numbers.)

[Ted Quanrud]

From Chicago Tribune critic John von Rhein's review of Oct.22, 1993:

"The final pages, played (as written) at near inaudibility, unfolded over a background of audience silence that was remarkable.

This awed, respectful hush persisted for what seemed like minutes after the orchestra had stopped playing. Then, a prolonged storm of applause. A performance to be treasured."

It was the Mahler 9th; Claudio Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmonic, one of the two greatest concerts of my life, and I can personally vouch for von Rhein's description. I still wonder who the d----- idiot was who finally started clapping; otherwise I might still be in the first balcony of Orchestra Hall, awestruck at what I had just heard.

To a great conductor, who truly deserves the title Maestro, Happy Birthday!!!!

[Seán]

Dear Claudio Abbado is one of life's great gifts, bless him, he is one of my favourite conductors.

I am celebrating his Birthday this weekend by listening to a selection of his recordings.

[josé echenique]

Dear Claudio Abbado is one of life's great gifts, bless him, he is one of my favourite conductors.

I am celebrating his Birthday this weekend by listening to a selection of his recordings.

Me too Seán, some of his Schubert cycle, the Mahler 9th with the BPO of course, and tomorrow his stunning Boris Godunov.

[Seán]

Dear Claudio Abbado is one of life's great gifts, bless him, he is one of my favourite conductors.

I am celebrating his Birthday this weekend by listening to a selection of his recordings.

Me too Seán, some of his Schubert cycle, the Mahler 9th with the BPO of course, and tomorrow his stunning Boris Godunov.

I have really enjoyed my Abbado odyessy so far, the variety and quality of his output is astonishing.

[Lance]

Claudio Abbado has been one of my favourite conductors from the beginning of his career. You must acquire his Decca set (all his Decca recordings) and his big symphonic box on DGG. They are priceless!

[THEHORN]

Way back in the 70s , I attended a concert by Abbado and the V.P.O. in Carnegie hall which I will never forget .
They did a Bruckner 7th which sent chills up my spine ! The cheering was so loud I had to cover my ears !