Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker: Debussy, Rihm, Britten

By the later stages of Claudio Abbado’s tenure as principal conductor of the Berlin Philharnonic, he’d transformed the orchestra’s reputation, taking its legendary sound and virtuosity as a starting point for musical explorations that ranged far beyond the Austro-German tradition. This concert, recorded in Cologne in 2000, is typically fearless – a deep dive into the shimmering, nocturnal soundworlds of Ravel and Debussy, with the unrivalled team of Philip Langridge and Stefan Dohr as soloists in Britten’s Serenade. The programme begins with an impassioned meditation on German history from Wolfgang Rihm, just months after Abbado and his orchestra gave its world premiere in Berlin.