Klarinet Archive - Posting 000118.txt from 1999/07

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: [kl] Simon Rattle
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1999 09:45:37 -0400

On Sun, 04 Jul 1999 12:31:01 -0400, agalper@-----.com said:

> Simon Rattle to Berlin.

> Apparently the battle for conductorships is on. Simon Rattle, a
> British conductor from Birmingham England, is to get the job with the
> Berlin Philharmonic.

Sir Simon Rattle is actually from Liverpool -- though in a sense you are
right, because he was the principal conductor of the City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra for 18 years. Unlike many of his colleagues, he
turned down innumerable offers to guest conduct in order to concentrate
on building the CBSO and his relationship with them.

One of the offers he did (fortunately) accept was to be one of the
principal guest conductors of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment,
which plays on period instruments. (We are doing Beethoven 9 with him
in London, Birmingham and Germany in December.)

> Rattle's Informal tendencies may grate on the institution that spent
> almost 40 years under Karajan.

In fact, as someone who has played under Simon intermittently throughout
his career, starting with his first professional date (Pierrot Lunaire
in Las Palmas!) I can tell you that though he is outgoing and friendly,
his demeanour with the orchestra is entirely professional and proper. I
have never seen him lose his temper, or be rude to anyone, for example.

Of course he has been working with the Berlin Orchestra from time to
time for over 10 years now, so it's not as though they don't know his
work.

What may have been less welcome to some of the older members is
that his attitude to the classical repertoire has to some extent been
shaped by his interest in, and experience with period orchestras like
the OAE, and so it's very different from the Karajan approach. In fact,
I gather that the division over whether he should be appointed was
essentially between the the old guard and the younger players. And he's
no pussycat: he will certainly be interested in having them play the way
he wants.

However, the most important thing about Simon, and what I gather
eventually decided the issue in his favour after a particularly
spectacular recent series of concerts, is that he is a 'performer' of
the highest class. No concert is routine, nothing is exactly as it was
in the rehearsal. He trusts his players, and there is always a sense of
him serving, not his own whim, but some higher impulse, and this can
make his best performances incandescent. In this regard, he reminds me
of a very different conductor I was lucky enough to play with: Rudolf
Kempe.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN family artist: www.gmn.com
tel/fax 01865 553339

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