Simon Rattle conducts Schumann and Fauré
Robert Schumann wrote his Second Symphony while suffering mental health problems. And – according to the composer – “It seems to me that one can hear this in the music.” Simon Rattle conducted this work alongside Gabriel Fauré’s tone poem Pelléas et Mélisande which wins audiences over with its warm fairytale-like tone. For the press, this concert showed “that no other conductor exploits the potential of this orchestra with more imagination”.
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.”
© 2011 Berlin Phil Media GmbH
Artistes
Nos suggestions
- Sir Simon Rattle and Dianne Reeves at the 2003 New Year’s Eve Concert
- Simon Rattle conducts Dvořák, Turnage and Brahms
- Simon Rattle conducts Mahler’s Second Symphony
- 2007 Europakonzert from Berlin with Simon Rattle, Lisa Batiashvili and Truls Mørk
- Simon Rattle conducts Mozart’s Symphonies Nos. 39, 40 & 41
- “Late Night” concert with Simon Rattle and Barbara Hannigan
