A "gripping and moving re-encounter" (Der Standard): the audience and press enthusiastically celebrated Claudio Abbado's long-awaited return to the Salzburg Festival in 2012. The conductor had brought with him Mozart's youthful work Missa KV 139, the so-called "Orphanage Mass," and Schubert's late-composed Mass in E-flat Major. In a fascinating way, Abbado succeeded in uniting singers and instrumentalists in perfect interaction: "Rarely has one heard such a perfect tonal balance between choir, orchestra and vocal soloists, rarely also such a beautifully coordinated, vocally balanced ensemble of soloists." (Salzburger Nachrichten).