Sir Simon Denis Rattle
, CBE, FRSA, (born 19 January 1955) is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 [1] has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic (BPO).
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SIMON RATTLE TICKETS
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Early life
Rattle was born in
Liverpool, the son of Pauline Lila Violet (Greening) and Denis Guttridge Rattle, a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves.
[2] He studied at
Liverpool College. Although Rattle studied
piano and
violin, his early work with orchestras was as a
percussionist. He entered the
Royal Academy of Music in
London in 1971. There, his teachers included John Carewe. In 1974, his graduation year, Rattle won the John Player Conductor Competition. After organising and conducting a performance of Mahler's Second Symphony whilst still at the Academy, he was talent-spotted by the music agent Martin Campell-White, of Harold Holt Ltd. (now Askonas Holt Ltd.), who has since managed Rattle's career.
[3] He spent the academic year 1980/81 at
St Anne's College, Oxford studying English Language and Literature.
[4] He had been attracted to the college by the reputation of
Dorothy Bednarowska,
Fellow and Tutor in English.
[5] He was elected an
Honorary Fellow of
St Anne's in 1991.
[6] He was admitted to the degree of
Doctor of Music honoris causa
of the
University of Oxford in 1999.
[7]
UK career
In 1974, he was made assistant conductor of the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and in 1977 assistant conductor of the
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.
His time with the
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) from 1980 to 1998 drew him to the attention of critics and the public. In 1980, Rattle became the CBSO's Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser, and in 1990, Music Director. Rattle increased both his profile and that of the orchestra over his tenure. One of his long-term concert projects was the series of concerts of 20th century music titled "Towards the Millennium". One other major achievement during his time was the move of the CBSO from its former venue, the Town Hall, to a newly built concert hall, Symphony Hall, in 1991. The BBC commissioned film director
Jaine Green to follow him in his final year with the CBSO to make
Simon Rattle — Moving On
.
Rattle was awarded a CBE in 1987 and made a
Knight Bachelor in 1994. In 1992, Rattle was named a Principal Guest Conductor of the
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE), along with
Frans Brüggen. Rattle now has the title of Principal Artist with the OAE. In
2001, Rattle conducted the OAE at Glyndebourne in their first production of
Fidelio
with a period-instrument orchestra.
[8]
In May 2006 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the
Society of Arts.
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Rattle made his conducting debut with the
Berlin Philharmonic (BPO) in 1987, in a performance of
Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 6. In 1999, Rattle was appointed as successor to
Claudio Abbado as the orchestra's principal conductor.
[9] The appointment, decided on in a June 23 vote by the orchestra's members, was somewhat controversial, as several members of the orchestra were earlier reported to have preferred
Daniel Barenboim for the post.
[10] Nevertheless, Rattle won the post and proceeded to win over his detractors by refusing to sign the contract until he had ensured that every member of the orchestra was paid fairly, and also that the orchestra would gain artistic independence from the Berlin Senate.
[11]
Before leaving for Germany and on his arrival, Rattle controversially attacked the British attitude to
culture in general, and in particular the artists of the
Britart movement,
[12] together with the state funding of culture in the
UK.
[13]
Since his appointment, Rattle has reorganized the Berlin Philharmonic into a foundation, meaning its activities are more under the control of the members rather than politicians. He has also ensured that orchestra members' wages have increased quite dramatically, having fallen over the past few years.
[14] He gave his first concert as principal conductor of the BPO on
7 September 2002, leading performances of
Thomas Adès'
Asyla
and
Gustav Mahler's
Symphony No. 5, performances which received rave reviews from the press worldwide
[15] and were recorded for CD and DVD release by EMI. Early collaborative projects in the Berlin community with Rattle and the BPO involved a choreographed performance of Stravinsky's
Le sacre du printemps
and a film project with
Mark-Anthony Turnage's
Blood on the Floor
.
[16] He has also continued to champion contemporary music in Berlin.
[17] The orchestra has established its first education department during Rattle's tenure.
[18]
Criticism of Rattle's tenure with the Berlin Philharmonic began to appear after their first season together,
[19] and continued in their second season.
[20] The German critic Klaus Geitel was reported in 2004 to have described Rattle as "the weakest musical director of the Berlin Philharmonic he's ever seen".
[21] Rattle himself stated in 2005 that his relationship with the BPO musicians could sometimes be "turbulent", but also "never destructively so".
[22]
In 2006, a new controversy began in the German press as to the quality of Rattle's concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, with criticism from the German critic Manuel Brug in
Die Welt
.
[23] One musician who wrote to the press to defend Rattle was the pianist
Alfred Brendel.
[24] In 2007, the BPO/Rattle recording of
Brahms's
Ein deutsches Requiem
received the Classic FM Gramophone best choral disc award.
[25]
Rattle was originally contracted to lead the BPO through 2012, but in April 2008 the BPO musicians voted to extend his contract as chief conductor for an additional ten years past the next season, to 2019-2020.
[26]
UNICEF appointed Rattle and the BPO as Goodwill Ambassadors in November 2007.
[27]
Conducting in North America
Rattle made his North American conducting debut with the
Los Angeles Philharmonic (LAP) in
1979, and was their Principal Guest Conductor from 1981–1994. He also guest-conducted the
Cleveland Orchestra,
Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
San Francisco Symphony,
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and
Boston Symphony Orchestra. His
New York City debut was with the LAP in 1985.
In 1993, Rattle made his conducting debut with The
Philadelphia Orchestra.
[28] He returned for guest conducting engagements in
1999 [29] and
2000.
[30]. The musical relationship between Rattle and The Philadelphia Orchestra was reported to be such that Philadelphia wanted to hire Rattle as its next music director after
Wolfgang Sawallisch, but Rattle declined.
[31] However, Rattle continues to guest-conduct with The Philadelphia Orchestra in what is currently his sole North American guest-conducting engagement,
[32] including appearances in 2006
[33] and the Philadelphia Orchestra's first performances of Robert Schumann's
Das Paradies und die Peri
in November 2007.
[34] [35]
Musical styles and recordings
Rattle has conducted a wide variety of music, including some with period instruments (
musical instruments contemporary with the music being played), but he is best known for his interpretations of late-19th and early 20th century
composers such as Mahler, with a recording of Mahler's
Second Symphony winning several awards on its release and being regarded by some music critics
[who?] as Rattle's finest recording to date. He has also championed much
contemporary music, an example of this being the TV series
Leaving Home
, where he presents a 7-part survey of musical styles and conductors with excerpts recorded by the CBSO. His newest recordings with the Berlin orchestra (as of 2006) have, on the whole, been favourably received, notably his recordings of the Dvorák tone poems and Debussy's
La Mer
. The
Gramophone Magazine
praised the latter as a "magnificent disc" and drew favourable comparisons with interpretations of the piece by Rattle's immediate predecessors,
Claudio Abbado and
Herbert von Karajan. He has also worked with the
Toronto Children's Chorus. Rattle and the BPO also recorded Holst's
Planets
(EMI), which was the
BBC Music Magazine
Orchestra Choice. In addition, Rattle's complete 1989 recording of
George Gershwin's
opera Porgy and Bess
was used as the soundtrack for the
1993 television production of the work. It was the first made-for-television production of
Porgy and Bess
ever presented. Rattle's 2007 recording of
Brahms'
Ein deutsches Requiem
received praise from
BBC Music Magazine
, as "Disc of the Month" for April
2007, "as probably the best new version of the
Requiem
I've heard in quite some years." Rattle and the BPO have also released recordings of
Bruckner's
Fourth Symphony,
Romantic
, and
Haydn's Symphonies Nos. 88-92 and Sinfonia concertante, and Mahler's
Ninth Symphony.
Simon Rattle's recording of Brahms'
Ein deutsches Requiem
with the BPO received the Choral Performance
Grammy Award in 2008.
Personal life
Rattle's first marriage was to Elise Ross, an American soprano, with whom he had two sons, one of whom, Sacha, is a clarinettist.
[36] They were divorced in 1995 after 15 years of marriage. His second wife was
Candace Allen, a Boston-born writer.
[37] This second marriage ended after Rattle and the Czech mezzo-soprano
Magdalena Kožená began a relationship.
[38] Kožená and Rattle have two sons, Jonas and Milos.
Rattle is a fan of
Liverpool F.C.
[39]
Discography
References
- berliner-philharmoniker.de
- Family detective
- Artist Details: Sir Simon Rattle
- Simon Rattle: Marching to a revolutionary beat
- Elisabeth Jay, 'Obituary: Dorothy Bednarowska', ''The Independent'' (17 January 2003), paragraph 6
- Muriel Spark and Simon Rattle in honorands list
- Conferment of Honorary Degrees: Degree of Doctor of Music, Sir Simon Rattle, CBE
- What's so funny about Beethoven?
- Picking up the baton
- Rattle set for classic music's top job
- Wilkommen Sir Simon!
- Rattle fires parting shot at Brit Art bratpack
- Rattle's rage at 'amateur' Arts Council
- Roll over Beethoven, here comes Sir Simon
- Rattle's rapturous debut
- My crazy idea
- German Reengineering
- The mighty 'wuah'
- The end of the affair
- Is Rattle's Berlin honeymoon over?
- Can Rattle rival the greats?"
- Karaoke, wild tigers, hysteria: Rattle on his turbulent affair with the Berlin Philharmonic
- Überwältigungsmusik, aber kaum Durchdringung
- Criticism of Rattle is really out of tune
- Batons at dawn
- Berlin Philharmonic keeps Rattle
- UNICEF: UNICEF appoints Berliner Philharmoniker Goodwill Ambassador 2007-11-17.
- Rattle Leads the Philadelphia In Mahler's Ninth Symphony
- Did Briton, Wielding Sibelius, Audition For a Job?
- A Sense of Gluttony But an Easy Surrender
- Top Conductors, Top Orchestras, Brahms in Common
- David Patrick Stearns, "Rattle's rocky road". ''Philadelphia Inquirer'', 2 February 2006.
- Bruckner's Seventh and Painterly Tableaus in Song
- Passionate about ''Paradise''
- Repentance as the Key to Open Pearly Gates
- Ed Vulliamy, ''Simon Rattle: bringing Berlin home to Liverpool,'' The Observer, 31 August 2008
- I hate to see myself conducting
- Magdalena and the men in her life
- Liverpool gets it Rattle back