Sir Simon Rattle
Photo: © Monika Rittershaus / Pressestelle der Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker / 2009070810025831. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Congratulations to Sir Simon Rattle, who has been awarded the Sibelius Medal of the Sibelius Society of Finland.
The medal was presented by the Finnish Ambassador to Germany before a concert in the Berlin Philharmonie in which Sir Simon Rattle was conducting the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra in Sibelius’s Symphonies Nos 5, 6 and 7.
Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra will visit London in February 2015 to perform all seven Sibelius symphonies.
An extended interview featuring Sir Simon Rattle in conversation with the Finnish author and journalist Vesa Sirén can be viewed at the Helsingin Sanomat website: click here.
I greatly enjoyed the Berlin Philharmonics Sibelius Symphony cycle from the Barbican under their chief conductor Sir Simon Rattle who was celebrating Sibelius’s 150th anniversary and his own 60th. The journey from the first symphony through to the one movement seventh is the expression of a unique personality in its every variety of mood. I understand that the three concerts will be televised on BBC 4 starting on Sunday evening 15th February. Rattles credentials as a formable Sibelian coupled with a superb orchestra produced what was probably the finest cycle of the Sibelius symphonies heard in London since the late Sir Colin Davies’s ‘Tender is the North’ series back in 1992. The BPO is a magnificent instrument, and in particular its wonderful woodwind players plus a string section to die for. I’ve one point to make regarding the final concert last night which covered No’s 5, 6 and 7. The seventh symphony began immediately after the serene conclusion of No.6. No applause, no break between the two very different works. Maestro Rattle covers his reasons for this in his excellent interview with Vesa Siren. Personally I don’t like this practice, but tremendous music making.