Berlin Philharmonic / Simon Rattle / Sibelius cycle / Barbican R3 live 10-12/02/15

[Beef Oven!]

Just arrived at the Barbican having started at 06.30 this morning!

Am so excited about tonite's concert!

Had a beer yet?

[pastoralguy]

Had a beer yet?

A couple of whiskys...

Actually, the last time I did this getting up early to go to London for a same day concert was for Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus during their Brahms cycle. I almost nodded off during Brahms four...

[antongould]

Just arrived at the Barbican having started at 06.30 this morning!

Am so excited about tonite's concert!

Enjoy pg

[Beef Oven!]

A couple of whiskys...

Actually, the last time I did this getting up early to go to London for a same day concert was for Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus during their Brahms cycle. I almost nodded off during Brahms four...

Sláinte!!!

Yes, be careful - an early rise, a few drams at tea-time a comfortable darkened hall...........Zzzzzzzzzz!

I managed to nod-off in the middle of Tishchenko's Cello concerto in the same hall a few years back, with just drinking Cola!!!

[pastoralguy]

Enjoy pg

Thanks!

If you hear gentle snoring on Radio3 you'll know EXACTLY who it is...

[Beef Oven!]

Did he say tonight's concert is being screened on BBC4 on Sunday?

[Zucchini]

20.00

[Stanley Stewart]

Did he say tonight's concert is being screened on BBC4 on Sunday?

Sunday, 15 Feb. BBC 4: 20.00-21.40hrs: Sibelius, Symphonies 5,6 & 7

Sat, 14 Feb, BBC 2, 21.05-22.05hrs: Simon Rattle: The Making of a Maestro

[Beef Oven!]

Sunday, 15 Feb. BBC 4: 20.00-21.40hrs: Sibelius, Symphonies 5,6 & 7

Sat, 14 Feb, BBC 2, 21.05-22.05hrs: Simon Rattle: The Making of a Maestro

Thanks Stanley

[Petrushka]

Sat, 14 Feb, BBC 2, 21.05-22.05hrs: Simon Rattle: The Making of a Maestro

I am going to the Lachenmann/Mahler 2 concert on Saturday and want to record it. By my reckoning it should finish at around 9.15 and I wanted to record the above programme as well.

It's such a ridiculous and unnecessary clash - don't TV and Radio people talk to each other?

[Beef Oven!]

It's such a ridiculous and unnecessary clash - don't TV and Radio people talk to each other?

Huh? Seems perfect to me. Match Of The Day starts at 10.30, just enough time to fix a nice cup of tea and locate the Liquorice Allsorts. Sorted

[Nick Armstrong]

Huh? Seems perfect to me. Match Of The Day starts at 10.30, just enough time to fix a nice cup of tea and locate the Liquorice Allsorts. Sorted

Quite; and I hope to be home in time from the Emirates Stadium (4pm k.o. Arsenal v Middlesbrough ) in time to check both are recording successfully

The Ravel in the RFH this evening was tremendous. How was the Sibelius at the Barbican? No one seems to have opined!

[Pianorak]

How was the Sibelius at the Barbican? No one seems to have opined!

I listened to the broadcast - the first of the Sibelius broadcasts I actually enjoyed. Maybe I got used to the acoustics, maybe they repositioned the microphones, maybe SR told the basses to tone it done a bit. Until last night I felt the basses were too prominent and the brass/woodwinds not prominent enough. I even felt that the clarity and transparency of each group of instruments worked against symphonic unity with each group sounding separate and episodic. Judging by the five-star reviews here and elsewhere my critical faculties have obviously reached a new low - or perhaps only ever existed in my imagination. Ho hum.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I was listening at home. The performances were, in their own way , tremendous but very idiosyncratic - if that is the right word. The unbelievable sumptuousness of the BPO created a very different sound world from the standard Sibelius perf - if there is one. Still very bass heavy at home with ultra rich string playing. Another thread remarked on the very different string sound Rattle got in his early CBSO Beethoven performances on R3 recently and I had similar thoughts here. Very subtle swelling and fading of the notes, portamenti where I am not used to hearing them . It sounded a bit Brahmsian rather than the usual Nordic austerity . The final climax of number seven an unbelievably well gradated crescendo, the constant subtle rubato in the fifth all marks of Rattle's mastery as a conductor and the fruit of generous rehearsal time perhaps. No time to go into the outstanding brass and wind sections but that sound - there is nothing like it .
There was a very interesting interview with their principal oboist , a veteran of Karajan days , on In Tune yesterday . The Germans have a problem with Sibelius - apparently Adorno did not care for him. That might explain the different approach last night - the music not in the bones of the orchestra as it is with the LSO for example. Maybe that permits a different approach.The experience in the hall must have been overwhelming - but somehow a roar of applause after a Sibelius symphony - even the 'triumphant ' ones - never feels right - the triumph has been too hard won.

[Bryn]

I did not listen at the time of broadcast but was most disturbed to fine the 'HD Sound' version, of at least the Fifth, seriously compromised by glitches, a whole series of which are heard at the start of the symphony. Can anyone here who listened to, or perhaps recorded, the FM or DAB versions comment on whether or not they suffered similarly?