Sound of Simon Rattle & Berliner Philharmoniker

Happy to get

With the return of Sir Simon to Londinium (can someone hose down Sir Nicholas Kenyon?) clover awaits its citizenry and burgomasters. As one of my learned friends exclaimed, “who could resist a feast of Messiaen, Szymanowski and Janacek (where) Madalena Kozena sings the Bruckner 8th . . . . there might be some British Music but it will be Britten, Rubbra, Ades and Birtwistle! All played by a second rate orchestra in a gloomy 1960s cutting-edge cavern with the acoustics of a cushion factory!” Under the circumstances, it’s opportune to run a protractor over Rattle’s imperium in Germania. That being said, he ain’t out yet. This is what the website of the Berlin Phil says of his season to come:"The concerts (will) allow us to relive some of the many highlights of these years. For example, a performance of the oratorio The Creation allows audiences once more to enjoy Rattle the celebrated Haydn conductor (and mutilator of the Oxford Symphony), while with Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri, Rattle presents one of his favourite works of the Romantic repertoire (this is mystifying to say the least – I suppose it’ll be more listenable than his Beethoven 8th). We also have another opportunity to hear the completion of Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony which caused a sensation in 2012 (for a few days), and Rattle interpreting Stravinsky is of course also an absolute must (if you say so). There are also joint appearances with artistic friends such as Mitsuko Uchida, and Daniel Barenboim (have sausages, will travel). In addition to all these reminiscences are Wagner’s Parsifal (this will be an atrocity) and Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen, two operas Sir Simon has never performed before with the Berliner Philharmoniker (and mercifully so). Concerts with Mahler’s Sixth Symphony (oh, what joy) – with which he made his debut with the Philharmoniker in 1987 – and at the Berlin Waldbühne bring this great chapter in the history of the orchestra to a close."Amen! Now, note the title of this collection: The Sound of Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. That’s the target. Observe too the editorial blurb “Rattle has opened up new repertoire channels for the musicians (of the BP), endowed the tradition-steeped ensemble with a youthful image and established the inimitable 'Rattle Sound'.” I was stupefied by this last sentence. This dynamic is new to me. What is it? Is it couched in a “I don’t know if I’m Arthur or Martha” interpretative stance in Austro-German repertoire? Does it require the carbon-neutral Klang of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe or one of those Tuesday Night Mahler Sinfonietta jobs? If nothing else, it predicates the purgation of metaphysics (not that Sir Simon ever had much to offer in this domain) to maximise its appeal to a pluralist society.To questions. In this grab-bag of bleeding chunks, is there a single definitive statement (in the wider performances)? Dare one ask it, but what’s the landmark recording of his reign in Berlin? I’m hard-pressed to offer a single nomination – and Heavens to Betsy, this survey contains two potboilers: Rattle’s Haydn 88 and Schubert 9. Or could one suggest that Berlin-wise, his corpus is a triumphal arch made of Plaster of Paris? Outside digital storage, longevity spurns it. The elements await. Worse still, how faceless and impersonal the Berlin Phil sounds under his baton. Did it once not burn down the house? What of danger – why can it no longer project it? What of its resonance in bass? Where did it go?So much of the debasement of the Berlin Phil should be attributed to Abbado the Tame; even so, Rattle hastened its barbarisation into a glorified Chamber Orchestra of Europe. If nothing else, this collection provides us with an epitaph for his imperium in the guise of the final tracks: Perfume - The Story of a Murderer: Awaiting Execution and The Flower is a Key (A Rap for Mozart). He served his day – and London, know this in your bones: “Smirkin' Simon the Priapic Podium Master” is coming your way!

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