Prom 49: Rattle conducts Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony (24.08.22)

[Bryn]

I haven't yet had time to listen to this performance but I guess I might have made time if I were more enthusiastic about Rattle's conducting in general. He is obviously a sympathetic character, and, on the basis of concerts I've attended, he has a flawless conducting technique and the ability to get exactly what he wants out of the players he's working with. And yet... for me there is always something indefinable that's missing. When it comes to Mahler, we're made aware, with (to name conductors whose Mahler recordings I know best and/or have listened to most recently) Gielen, Kubelík, Boulez, Bernstein, Roth, Walter, or Norrington, what and how that conductor thinks about the music. I'm not sure I hear such a thing in Rattle's interpretations. Some people might see that as a positive point, and I would be the first to insist on interpretations that put the music first, so to speak, rather than the performer's personality, but that isn't quite the issue. I might have something a bit more meaningful to say when I've had a chance to listen...

I very much find myself concurring. In works I am particularly familiar with and have heard many performances by a fairly wide range of conductors, I all too often find myself hearing, yes, all the right notes, and in the right order, and close attention to detail, and yet . . . That said, he can sometimes conduct a performance that, somehow, fully gels. This I noted particularly with Messiaen's Turangalîla snd Éclairs sur l'Au-Delà.... On both occasions that I felt he had 'got it', the setting was the Proms, those at which he most recently conducted those works. Both, for me, eclipsed his commercial recordings, both audio and video. of those works.

[Prommer]

There is no doubt he is a great musician. But a great conductor? Hmmm... just settling down again now to watch and to hear.

[Tony Halstead]

Simon is a great conductor in concert, I can say that for sure, having played for him over a period of over 45 years in orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. I'm also pretty sure that I played in the horn section of the RLPO in that very Mahler 2nd symphony concert, in Liverpool in the 1960s, that he refers to as life-changing! Confession time... I'm a Rattle fan! By the way, I'm really enjoying the TV prom at the moment.

[cloughie]

There is no doubt he is a great musician. But a great conductor? Hmmm... just settling down again now to watch and to hear.

Of course he’s a great conductor. Is every performance spot on - of course not - as any great conductor he does not always play safe. As with any great conductor he will conduct performances of works which are different in sound and shape to others, which will not meet with universal approval. He may have recorded a work which he will never do better, so should he never perform/recordinit again in case it is not quite as good? At times there is not a little armchair smugness on this forum!
Having said all that I still think 20 years on there is more to enjoy in his CBSO recordings than those with BPO and LSO, whether that is down to rhe recordings, the conductor or the orchestral players or maybe my perception of them,

[Prommer]

Oh well, sorry about the armchair. But Petroc has just told he IS a 'great conductor'!

[Barbirollians]

Enjoying even more on the recording of tonight’s BBC 4 relay than I did on sounds - different league to the analytical unmoving CBSO/Stenz performance in June .

[Barbirollians]

Yep the Stenz - far too cool until the chorus joined in.

[jonfan]

Great performance that grew in stature and intensity as it progressed with the end as overwhelming as it should be. Rattle paces the whole so well with plenty of time taken in the silences. A good theatrical touch with the chorus seated for their first entries and the two soloists well apart to start with. (They were excellent with passionate operatic declamation).
On a health and safety note: The horns had their hands over their ears when the percussion let rip on their crescendo; maybe an acoustic shield should have been deployed?

[Petrushka]

Simon is a great conductor in concert, I can say that for sure, having played for him over a period of over 45 years in orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. I'm also pretty sure that I played in the horn section of the RLPO in that very Mahler 2nd symphony concert, in Liverpool in the 1960s, that he refers to as life-changing! Confession time... I'm a Rattle fan! By the way, I'm really enjoying the TV prom at the moment.

Great to hear your memories and wonder if you were playing in the Bernstein performance in Ely Cathedral available on DVD and which I remember seeing on TV on Easter Day 1973.

I've been going to Rattle concerts since 1987 when the CBSO was still in the Town Hall in Birmingham. He is, without doubt, the greatest conductor to come out of my generation (I'm 6 months older than he is). Not everything he has done has worked and I still think his Birmingham days were his best.

I listened and watched to tonight's TV broadcast through my speakers with the volume well up and it sounded pretty damn good, almost as good as it did in the hall on Wednesday night.

[cloughie]

Oh well, sorry about the armchair. But Petroc has just told he IS a 'great conductor'!

…and the Cornish never lie!

[Alison]

Altogether a very good Prom, one to keep on the hard drive. Petroc did well and we didn’t need or get superfluous guests.

[jonfan]

Petroc mentioned that George Hurst conducted the performance Rattle heard in Liverpool. I wonder if that was a combined RLPO/BBC Northern concert as sometimes happened at that time with the Northern and Halle coming together for big Mahler and Bruckner symphonies?

[Barbirollians]

Even more thrilling second time around ! A stupendous performance and what fabulous singing from soloists and choruses. Very much a “keep” on the hard drive .

[smittims]

Interesting summary by Petrushka of Simon's career. Yes, he is prodigiously-gifted if sometmes uneven. I recall a Pulcinella at the Proms about 25 years ago which was utterly fine, fit to stand with classic concerts of the past, and his Schoenberg performances at the Proms have been rewarding for me . But I was disappointed with his Berlin Beethoven series televised on Sky Arts earlier this year. It seemed limited compared with his Vienna recordings.

[silvestrione]

I'm a Rattle fan as I have said before, having first heard him in his brief Bournemouth days, and many times since. I thought this was stupendous!
(AND, AND, on September 11th he is going to conduct Elgar 2! Is that a first, I wonder...)