Programme Guide

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.”