Programme Guide

Before Simon Rattle took office as chief conductor, the Berliner Philharmoniker had only once performed a cycle of the symphonies of Sibelius – and that was only in the recording studio. In 2010, Sir Simon conducted a complete performance for the first time in the Philharmonie Berlin. In this concert, the cycle reached its culmination.

In Symphonies Nos. 5, 6 and 7, the development of Jean Sibelius’s style crystallises the qualities of the preceding works – Sir Simon and the Berliner Philharmoniker have made the visionary moment of this music audible in their performances of Sibelius so far this season. “Sibelius as the grandfather of Modernism”, wrote the Tagesspiegel, “in such a succinct formulation as with Rattle and the Philharmoniker has rarely been experienced before”. The abstract art-work character of this music demands a completely homogeneous, weightlessly light string sound – exactly the ideal Rattle has been working on since he took up direction of the Philharmoniker. Even back then he had diagnosed a Sibelius deficit in the orchestra, so these February concerts are confirmation that this task is now complete and that the orchestra has mastered this sound to perfection, a sound equally important for Messiaen, Ligeti and Ravel. The orchestra has thus become the ideal instrument to serve the intentions of their principal conductor.”