Simon Rattle's appointment to the post of the Berlin Philharmonic's musical
director met largely with large approval here in Germany.  The consensus
seemed to be that Berlin had snagged the best, most attractive candidate
available, though his extraordinary ideas on programming might in the
future cause some trouble.

However, dissent did come from one notable quarter, namely that of (Prof.)
Joachim Kaiser, arguably the country's most prestigious critic.  Betokening
his stature, Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung accorded him space for a
1000-word editorial.  In it, Kaiser kicked off, much like Mark Atnhony on
another occasion, praising to high heaven Rattle for his outstanding
musicianship and for the soaring success of his stewardship of the
Birmingham orchestra.

Then he shifted the focus to the Berlin Philharmonic.  Was Rattle the right
man for this very exceptional, indeed unique orchestra that stood for a
tradition annealed by the thumping passage of a century? After all, it had
started with Hans Buelow's " temperamental logic as well as common sense,
bound up with fidelity to the composition....Then came Artur Nikisch, more
of an ecstatic dreamer....Wilhelm Furtwaengler succeeded them and also
succeeded in in sythesizing Nikisch's freedom with Buelow fidelity...from
him the orchestra learned ...the tragic power of great symphonic muisc,
the metaphysiucs of a sort of music, in the main German, of the four
elegant B's, Bach, Beethoven, Bruckner, Brahms.  After a short but lively
intrermezzo overseen by Celi, there followed Karajan...by no means only
a TV-addicted Wirtschaftswunder conductor, but also an impassioned
interpreter of great classical music, rendered with a modern, nervy sense
for timbre and brilliance."

And so it was, Kaiser went on, that the Berlin Philharmonic became
inspirited by great 19th century symphonic music.  Therefore something
stands in danger of being destroyed if the orchestra has a leader who "was
not really moved by this spirit, only finding it as important as other
kinds of music....It therefotre seems to me worth challenging the decision
to wed that excellent man, Rattle, to the Berlin Philharmonic."

Denis Fodor
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