Rattle To Leave LSO?

[gurnemanz]

In the early 90s I got Rattle's 4CD CBSO Sibelius as a freebie enticement when I subscribed to Gramophone to save me going to the newsagent's. It served me pretty well for quite a few years. I subsequently supplemented it via Bernstein on his bumper Symphony Box and most recently with Osmo Vänskä/Lahti SO on BIS.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I remember Rattle's notorious Proms Heldenleben with the BPO, where he was booed. You often get a better sense of whether a performance really works by experiencing it live in the hall, and that concert was a good example. You felt all the life draining out of you while standing through it, something you may not have appreciated from hearing the live relay.

You seem to be suggesting that an inability to appreciate Rattle can be corrected by force-feeding them a ton of recordings until they get the message and agree with you. People have their opinions, which are no more or less valid than anybody else's.

Heldenleben booed - I’m not having that. That piece would be high up on my list of pieces difficult to mess up with Haydn symphonies at the other end of the spectrum . Did he take it very slowly? That’s never a good idea ...

[Ein Heldenleben]

In the early 90s I got Rattle's 4CD CBSO Sibelius as a freebie enticement when I subscribed to Gramophone to save me going to the newsagent's. It served me pretty well for quite a few years. I subsequently supplemented it via Bernstein on his bumper Symphony Box and most recently with Osmo Vänskä/Lahti SO on BIS.

I’ve got that Rattle box . It always seems to come in for criticism but ,sorry, I like it....I suspect that I’m just not that fussy about conductors.

[verismissimo]

My main live experiences of Rattle in the past two decades have been with the OAE. Almost invariably top notch - a band he's loved working with from the start.

Shame he left so few studio recordings with them.

[Pulcinella]

Heldenleben booed - I’m not having that. That piece would be high up on my list of pieces difficult to mess up with Haydn symphonies at the other end of the spectrum . Did he take it very slowly? That’s never a good idea ...

I quite like his complete Pulcinella, with the Northern Sinfonia (recorded in 1977).

[LHC]

My main live experiences of Rattle in the past two decades have been with the OAE. Almost invariably top notch - a band he's loved working with from the start.

Shame he left so few studio recordings with them.

There is a recording of his performance of Das Rheingold with the OAE on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUFWNKFajjA

[Petrushka]

Rattle's first London performance as the BPO chief was on October 12 2002, Haydn 88 and Mahler 5. I'm not sure if there were two concerts but I was present at the Mahler. I'll try and find my programme book which will probably list both if there was another.

There were indeed two concerts. The first one consisted of Schoenberg's String Quartet No 2 (with Dawn Upshaw) and the Bruckner 9. Perhaps that is the one Bert had in mind?

[Leinster Lass]

I regularly listen with great pleasure to one or more items from Rattle's 2-CD set of (mainly) lesser known Britten works (EMI Classics).

[silvestrione]

I think it absurd to call Rattle 'incurious' about contemporary music, or indeed to criticise him in an area that has always been one of his strengths. He has done much to further the careers of Birtwistle, Turnage, Ades, Judith Weir, perhaps Helen Grime, and no doubt others (I'm not informed about all the contemporary composers he's supported by performing in Berlin, listed above by JLW), and much to increase the wider appreciation of Messiaen, Ligeti, Berio, Lutoslawski (yes, JLW, I have that marvellous disc), Maw of course, all of whom were first living composers to him. Wider appreciation of these contributes to a general interest and openness towards contemporary music generally.

Can't remember now, what was he performing at a late-night Prom when there was a protest-interruption by some anti-'modern' music fanatics? We've come a long way, if some now think his record in this area is not good...

[mikealdren]

Just noticed that, apart from Mahler 2 and Das Klagende Lied, all my Rattle CD recordings are of 20th century music.

[Richard Barrett]

I think it absurd to call Rattle 'incurious' about contemporary music, or indeed to criticise him in an area that has always been one of his strengths. He has done much to further the careers of Birtwistle, Turnage, Ades, Judith Weir, perhaps Helen Grime, and no doubt others

No doubt others of a similarly mainstream persuasion, yes, I imagine so. I haven't seen anything in his "contemporary" repertoire that indicates a personal interest on his part to seek anything out that's not been thoroughly road-tested, approved by critics and so on. "Curiosity" is something I'd ascribe to a conductor like Ilan Volkov. Rattle comes nowhere near.

[Bert]

No doubt others of a similarly mainstream persuasion, yes, I imagine so. I haven't seen anything in his "contemporary" repertoire that indicates a personal interest on his part to seek anything out that's not been thoroughly road-tested, approved by critics and so on. "Curiosity" is something I'd ascribe to a conductor like Ilan Volkov. Rattle comes nowhere near.

I concur. He does just enough to keep his head above the water, but below the parapet. Gives the impression of pushing boundaries while remaining fundamentally mainstream. Maybe it's not fair of me to have an expectation that he'd do more in the direction of my musical preferences.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I quite like his complete Pulcinella, with the Northern Sinfonia (recorded in 1977).

Perhaps he prefers clowns to heroes ? I think as a general principle in life that’s not a bad outlook...

[oddoneout]

For hard-core music afficionados SR isn't possibly in the top flight, cretainly judging by comments above, but I do think against that in the balance is his profile amongst other sections of the population, who have possibly found him an easier way into the 'classical' world. He has been around for a long time, active outside London, is good looking and is often pictured laughing. There may well be people who have read about his move to Germany, because they recognise his name; in so doing they also get some idea of the problems that Brexit is causing for the music world.

[french frank]

No doubt others of a similarly mainstream persuasion, yes, I imagine so. I haven't seen anything in his "contemporary" repertoire that indicates a personal interest on his part to seek anything out that's not been thoroughly road-tested, approved by critics and so on. "Curiosity" is something I'd ascribe to a conductor like Ilan Volkov. Rattle comes nowhere near.

The range of music covered by the 'classical music' label is huge and I suspect even the professionals have huge gaps in their 'curiosity', don't they? I don't know that that is either surprising or to be criticised, though it will presumably make different conductors attract a different (if I may ) fan base, depending on the interests of the listener. For reasons I cannot explain other than 'temperamental', my interest in the 19th c. palls after the first couple of decades, and isn't restored until the closing decade. My total inability to appreciate the great symphonies of the nineteenth century means that some conductors slip entirely through the net.