A biography of Claudio Abbado was published in Germany recently. It claims to be the first chronological and objective representation of its subject. Unluckly this is not the case, but at least try to remain objective.

The author, Christian Försch, depicts Claudio Abbado'youth in the form of a novel.This may occasionally sound a bit hilarious. Yet the further we progress - from Milan via London to Vienna - the more agressive style gets. Försch has done his homework, he hardly makes any factual mistakes, but he loves to make insinuations, jump to conclusions or ask questions... By the times he reaches Berlin he has become downright insolent and nasty. This is absolutely unjust and Abbado does definitively not deserve such treatment. Of course we know that nobody is perfect, but to doubt Abbado's interest in contemporary composers, his friendship with Nono or his enthusiasm for youth orchestras (to quote just a few examples) and put it all down to a crawing fro publicity is just too stupid for words.

This book is not a biography, but social criticism, all be it with the wrong choice of subject. The author admits so himself - but only on the last page but one.

The discography was taken (warts and all) from the CAI - without any acknowledgment at all. Important articles are missing in the bibliography.

To sum up. this book, althrough it has some good passages, is unfair, unjust, and a great disappointment. Let us hope that it will not cause too much damage and that we will be able to read a better biography soon.