Rattle Charts New Course for Berlin Philharmonic
   Fri Nov 14, 9:31 PM ET
   By Anastasia Tsioulcas
   http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031115/music_nm/music_classical_rattle_dc

   NEW YORK (Billboard) - During his recent visit to New York,
   I sat down with Sir Simon Rattle, the Berlin Philharmonic's
   dynamic 48-year-old English music director and EMI Classics
   artist, to discuss his second year at what may well be the
   world's best orchestra.

   "I love wine," Sir Simon says, "and Berlin is a really deep,
   rich red.  I want to choose repertoire that suits that palate."

   The conductor sees many opportunities to expand the orchestra's
   reach.  "I looked at what the orchestra has been playing in
   the past 20 years.  They had done more Mahler and Brahms than
   any other composer," he says, "but almost no Mozart or Haydn.
   On the contemporary front, they had played a lot of Kurtag
   and Rihm and some Ligeti, but never John Adams or Magnus
   Lindberg, just to pick out two great names.

   "I want to give this great big bird as many colored feathers
   as it can take," he says.  "I'm doing the big central pieces,
   but we're also doing works like Messiaen's 'Eclairs sur
   l'Au-Dela,' which the whole orchestra feels is such a raving
   masterpiece.  And we're going to record the extraordinary
   Dvorak late tone poems, which nobody knows."

   What does Sir Simon see as his role in Berlin?  "My job," he
   says, "is to build the orchestra, build on its extraordinary
   tradition and expand it.  It's such a young group now; there
   are so many players in their 20s.  I'm one of the only
   gray-haired people there!" he says with a laugh.  "And it's
   a very international group as well.  As one of the older
   musicians reminded me, we don't have a shared memory of how
   'we' play very much music, so we need to build up this
   generation's foundation."

   What has the response been in Berlin thus far?  "Although
   more people canceled their subscriptions than usual after my
   first year," he notes, "many more people have come in as new
   subscribers.  They are definitely seeing the shift in the
   music and in the orchestra."

   While many labels and orchestras bemoan declines, perhaps
   they should take their cues from Sir Simon, who continues to
   clear a new path and set a new pace.

   Reuters/Billboard

-Neb Rodgers <[log in to unmask]>