So who will be the Berlin Phil.'s music director once Sir Simon leaves?

[vinteuil]

"Is that like being egg-bound?" a viewer writes

... o, at the very least try Bing Crosby and Webster's Dictionary....

[amateur51]

... o, at the very least try Bing Crosby and Webster's Dictionary....

Let's leave Dottie Lamour out of it, eh?

[Petrushka]

Did anyone open a book on this? What are the odds on Mr Service's desired outcome:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/toms...tra?CMP=twt_fd ?

An interesting article and some equally interesting comments as well. I'd put the odds on this happening at about 4/1 against and if Ladbrokes or William Hill want to take my cash I'd be happy with odds like that.

[BBMmk2]

Esa-Pekka Salonen, yes, but what about any of the younger Finnish conductors that are aound?

[pastoralguy]

It would suit me and the LSO (and Sir N Kenyon) nicely I'm sure
but I guess it depends as much on what Rattle's young family needs as anything else.

I seem to remember the LSO gave the young Simon Rattle such a hard time that he swore he'd never conduct them again.

[Stanfordian]

My pick for the next musical director of the Berliner Philharmoniker is their local boy Christian Thielemann.

[DracoM]

But would they risk the 'baggage'?

[Stanfordian]

But would they risk the 'baggage'?

Hiya DracoM,

If I'm not mistaken it's the orchestra members that will take the decision. Time will tell!

[BBMmk2]

I hope Theilemann doesnt get the job!!

[Hornspieler]

Hiya DracoM,

If I'm not mistaken it's the orchestra members that will take the decision. Time will tell!

I quite agree, Stanfordian. The Berlin Phil will surely take over the conductor who they consider they will be able to work with.
Rattle's residency will be a difficult act for any candidate to follow
HS

[amateur51]

The rumour mill has recently taken on some extra grist, apparently ....

Rattle for LSO?

http://intermezzo.typepad.com/intermezzo/2013/09/rattle-for-lso.html

[Barbirollians]

They should be a dynamite combination .

[BBMmk2]

I mentioned this sometime ago re Rattle. When he conducted that Bruckner with them, last year, wasn't it?

[bluestateprommer]

If I'm not mistaken it's the orchestra members that will take the decision. Time will tell!

Indeed, yes, as this recent NYT article reminds us:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/arts/music/the-berlin-philharmonic-comes-to-new-york.html

Note this bit:

"The orchestra plans to elect his successor this spring."

Further:

'Mr. Rattle's successor "must be a great musician, with big charisma," Peter Riegelbauer, a bassist in the orchestra since 1981 and one of its chairmen, said in his office at the Philharmonie. "That's always so important, that thing you can't explain. That mystical thing that we had with former chief conductors."

Unlike some orchestras, this one favors conductors it knows well, not options out of left field. Andris Nelsons, for example, had never publicly conducted the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in England when he was named its music director in 2007. Something like that will not happen in Berlin, where Mr. Nelsons is thought to be a serious contender.

He appeared to be bowing out last month in an article by [Manuel] Brug of Die Welt, which quoted Mr. Nelsons, 35, as saying that accepting the directorship of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position that officially started on Saturday, was a "strategic decision and also a signal" that in 2018 he would still be too young for Berlin. But in a subsequent interview published in The New York Times and by phone last week, he insisted that he had been misquoted and that his Boston appointment was "no signal to Berlin or any other orchestra."

Hmm, at least regarding Boston. That aside, continuing the article:

'Other galvanizing stars around his age might also appeal, like Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin or Kirill Petrenko. Christian Thielemann, 55, would be a tradition-minded throwback to his early mentor, Karajan; he is brilliant in the standard repertory but lacks clear vision elsewhere.'

(BTW, to paraphrase an earlier comment, I'm with Bbm in hoping that Thielemann doesn't get the job.) But then Woolfe tosses out this intriguing speculation:

'It's also possible that the orchestra will punt, appointing a veteran conductor like Daniel Barenboim (who is believed to have been favored by some players in the process that elected Mr. Rattle), Mariss Jansons or Riccardo Chailly for a relatively brief contract - say, five years, as opposed to Mr. Rattle’s initial 10 - to give the players more time to get to know the younger generation.'

PS: Regarding Sir Simon and his next career move, possibly Thames-bound, Jessica Duchen had this closing throwaway comment at the end of her blog review of the JSB/BPO St. Matthew Passion at The Proms:

http://jessicamusic.blogspot.com/2014/09/st-matthew-and-st-mark.html

"In the foyer I spotted the head of the LSO, who may or may not have been clutching a metaphorical butterfly net."

[Nick Armstrong]

Also sprach Simon Denis...