Abbado’s retreat to become a nature reserve

Abbado’s retreat to become a nature reserve

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norman lebrecht

January 25, 2021

In the 1960s Claudio Abbado bought a strip of coast in Sardinia as his private retreat. Now his children have agreed that it should become a nature reserve.

‘It is a land that is still miraculously intact, eight hectares of Mediterranean scrub that overlook the coast between the Bombarde and the Lazzaretto and which we have decided to give on loan for free use to Legambiente. Now this nature reserve will become a meeting place for volunteers and students. A place of research and environmental education,’ said his daughter Alessandra.

 

Comments

  • Simon Halsey says:

    How wonderful

  • phf655 says:

    With continuous background music of Mahler 1, first movement (‘wie ein Naturlaut’) , and Mahler 3 Second (what the flowers tell me) and Third (what the animals tell me) movement!

  • This month it’s the 6th anniversary of the death of the great Claudio. We haven’t finished missing him

    • Stuart says:

      My first encounter of him live was more than 40 years ago at a CSO concert featuring Mahler’s 6th. Great as he was in opera (Macbeth!) his Mahler is especially wonderful. Listening to the 2009 Mahler 1st from Lucerne as I write this,

      • I wrote a mistake he left us 7 years ago in january sorry. Anyway I will always regret to never have seen him in concert. But we all have two or three conductors we regret to never have seen…

        • Nick2 says:

          I saw him early in his BPO tenure in a superb all Brahms concert in Tokyo around 1991.Ten years earlier also in Tokyo I was at the absolutely superb Strehler/Frigerio Boccanegra that must surely be one of his finest recordings. Then there was the amazing Faggioni/Frigerio Carmen at the Edinburgh Festival with Berganza making her debut in the role, Domingo and the LSO. The columnist, writer and critic Bernard Levin claimed this was probably the finest production of the opera since its premiere. The sadness I have is that I never made it to see him conduct in Lucerne?

          • Me I would have liked to see him in reptition at La Scala in the end of the 70’s. And to see how he worked with his assistant Riccardo Chailly he helped to present at tis moment.

      • Amos says:

        In 1980 or 81 he performed the Mahler 6th with the Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall and on tour. I think LM had already opted to leave. In any event at the conclusion of the first concert, concertmaster Daniel Majeske had the orchestra remain seated throughout the first ovation and initially when he reappeared until CA literally pulled him out of his seat. I’m not sure if the orchestra members were hoping he would opt to replace LM but it appears they really admired him.

    • Ari Bocian says:

      I think you meant 7th; he died in 2014.

    • Rachelle Goldberg says:

      Actually it’s the 7th Anniversary

    • henry williams says:

      it was a shame when he left the BPO. but he had
      health issues. he had not much choice.
      he is still missed.

  • Jan Kaznowski says:

    Very different from the Silicon Valley venture capitalists who try to ban the public from beaches they buy. Khosla once tried to get an armed guard on his :

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/10/martins-beach-california-public-vinod-khosla

  • Bogna says:

    There was a promise made by the city of Milano to plant 90,000 trees in memory of Claudio Abbado – I hope that the promise was kept. His discussion with Renzo Piano, both interviewed by Stefano Boeri in Bologna on April 3, 2010, was published by Abitare (in Italian and English): “Amongst the notes, amongst the leaves – A discussion about botany and creativity with Claudio Abbado and Renzo Piano”, plus a story of his gardening in all places he had lived, scripted by Marina Rovera. Part of that splendid interview (in Italian) was reprinted in the January 2014 issue of Abitare https://www.abitare.it/it/architettura/2014/01/22/abitare-abbado-piano/, with a link at the end to the full 2010 article, with pictures, as archived in pdf.

    • Petros Linardos says:

      If 90,000 trees had actually been planted in memory of Abbado, wouldn’t that have been widely reported and easily traceable online? The announcement of the plan, around 2014, is everywhere. Nothing more since then. I hope someone will prove I didn’t search adequately.

  • Iracema says:

    Great news. Brings me hope in humanity

  • Michael Blim says:

    Claudio = mensch

  • JussiB says:

    On Saturday his nephew Roberto conducted a fine “I Puritani” in Rome —
    https://youtu.be/5zJ_Iq102e0

  • Nick2 says:

    What a magnificent gesture from the family of one of music’s greatest and much missed conductors.

  • A Kumlin says:

    Such father, such children. Beautiful!

  • Robin Mitchell-Boyask says:

    I had the great fortune to attend university in Chicago during his years as Principal Guest there, witnessing, inter alia, the Mahler 1 and 5 that were recorded. I then was living in Vienna (on a Fullbright) in 1986-87 when he was in charge. Simon Boccanegra (greatest single performance of anything ever in my life), Ballo, Barber of Seville, Wozzeck (me and my future wife can be seen in the audience during the final credits)… Concerts that were recorded for DG: Schubert masses, Mahler 9 and about a 1/3 of his Beethoven cycle (ok, that was not the greatest). I got to talk to him a couple of times; such a nice man! What a year! I remain in utter awe of him. When he died I felt I lost a longtime companion.

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