Abbado conducts Debussy and Wagner – with Bryn Terfel

Claudio Abbado had loved the music of Claude Debussy since his childhood, so it was no surprise that he chose music by the French composer for the first concert of his Lucerne Festival Orchestra. In addition to the vivid "symphonic sketches" La mer, which shimmers in a thousand moods and colours before culminating in a grand finale, the concert features the suite from the much lesser-known mystery play Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien, a collaboration with the Italian writer Gabriele D'Annunzio. Completing the programme, superstar bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, one of Abbado's favorite singers, lends his powerful voice to the moving final scene from Wagner's Die Walküre.

Soloists: 

Rachel Harnisch (Soprano), Bryn Terfel (Bass-Baritone), Eteri Gvazava (Soprano)

Ensemble: 

Schweizer Kammerchor

Conductor: 

Claudio Abbado