Simon Rattle conducts Schumann and Fauré
Robert Schumann wrote his Second Symphony while suffering mental health problems. And – according to the composer – “It seems to me that one can hear this in the music.” Simon Rattle conducted this work alongside Gabriel Fauré’s tone poem Pelléas et Mélisande which wins audiences over with its warm fairytale-like tone. For the press, this concert showed “that no other conductor exploits the potential of this orchestra with more imagination”.
About the works in the concert, the Berlin Tagesspiegel declared, “The atmospheric tightness of the Philharmoniker sound in Gabriel Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande suite was incomparable: the grey winter sky rips apart, revealing a glimpse of pure azure above. How charmingly and subtly the various orchestral layers combine in ‘La Fileuse’, how the Sicilienne, heard for the thousandth time, is performed by Rattle with such simplicity: C’est sublime! And then to finish off, Schumann’s Second Symphony in an electrifying performance by Simon Rattle. As nimble as in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee, the violinists’ fingers flit through the characteristic main theme of the Scherzo. A demonstrative sense of longing in the Adagio espressivo; the finale, a celebration of philharmonic virtuosity. Rapturous applause.”
© 2011 Berlin Phil Media GmbH
Artists
Our recommendations
- Schubert’s “Winterreise” with Christian Elsner and Simon Rattle
- Season opening 2012: Simon Rattle and Yefim Bronfman
- Simon Rattle conducts Beethoven and Mendelssohn at the Waldbühne
- Barbara Hannigan and Simon Rattle with “Façade” by William Walton
- Simon Rattle conducts “Weltethos” by Jonathan Harvey and Hans Küng
- Simon Rattle conducts a “Late Night” concert à la française
