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Simon Rattle
Musical artist

Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE, FRSA, (born January 19, 1955) is an English conductor. He rose to prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and is currently principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic (BPO).

Biography

Early life

Rattle was born in Liverpool, the son of Pauline Lila Violet (Greening) and Denis Guttridge Rattle, a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves. He studied at Liverpool College. He learned the piano and violin, but his early work with orchestras was as a percussionist. He entered the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1971. There, his teachers included John Carewe. In 1974, his graduation year, Rattle won the John Player Conductor Competition. After organising and conducting a performance of Mahler's Second Symphony whilst still at the Academy, he was talent-spotted by the music agent Martin Campell-White, of Harold Holt Ltd. (now Askonas Holt Ltd.), who has since managed Rattle's career. He spent the academic year 1980/81 at St Anne's College, Oxford studying English Language and Literature. He had been attracted to the college by the reputation of Dorothy Bednarowska, Fellow and Tutor in English. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of St Anne's in 1991. He was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Music honoris causa of the University of Oxford in 1999.

UK career

In 1974, he was made assistant conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and in 1977 assistant conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.

His time with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) from 1980 to 1998 drew him to the attention of critics and the public. In 1980, Rattle became the CBSO's Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser, and in 1990, Music Director. Rattle increased both his profile and that of the orchestra over his tenure. One of his long-term concert projects was the series of concerts of 20th century music titled "Towards the Millennium". One other major achievement during his time was the move of the CBSO from its former venue, the Town Hall, to a newly built concert hall, Symphony Hall, in 1991. The BBC commissioned film director Jaine Green to follow him in his final year with the CBSO to make Simon Rattle — Moving On.

Rattle was awarded a CBE in 1987 and made a Knight Bachelor in 1994. In 1992, Rattle was named a Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE), along with Frans Brüggen. Rattle now has the title of Principal Artist with the OAE. In 2001, Rattle conducted the OAE at Glyndebourne in their first production of Fidelio with a period-instrument orchestra.

In May 2006 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Arts.

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Rattle made his conducting debut with the Berlin Philharmonic (BPO) in 1987, in a performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 6. In 1999, Rattle was appointed as successor to Claudio Abbado as the orchestra's principal conductor. The appointment, decided on in a June 23 vote by the orchestra's members, was somewhat controversial, as several members of the orchestra were earlier reported to have preferred Daniel Barenboim for the post. Nevertheless, Rattle won the post and proceeded to win over his detractors by refusing to sign the contract until he had ensured that every member of the orchestra was paid fairly, and also that the orchestra would gain artistic independence from the Berlin Senate.

Before leaving for Germany and on his arrival, Rattle controversially attacked the British attitude to culture in general, and in particular the artists of the Britart movement, together with the state funding of culture in the UK. He was attacked in return for his poor understanding of conceptual and visual art.

Since his appointment, Rattle has reorganized the Berlin Philharmonic into a foundation, meaning its activities are more under the control of the members rather than politicians. He has also ensured that orchestra members' wages have increased quite dramatically, having fallen over the past few years. He gave his first concert as principal conductor of the BPO on September 7, 2002, leading performances of Thomas Adès' Asyla and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5, performances which received rave reviews from the press worldwide and were recorded for CD and DVD release by EMI. Early collaborative projects in the Berlin community with Rattle and the BPO involved a choreographed performance of Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps and a film project with Mark-Anthony Turnage's Blood on the Floor. He has also continued to champion contemporary music in Berlin.

Criticism of Rattle's tenure with the Berlin Philharmonic began to appear after their first season together, and continued in their second season. The German critic Klaus Geitel was reported in 2004 to have described Rattle as "the weakest musical director of the Berlin Philharmonic he's ever seen". Rattle himself stated in 2005 that his relationship with the BPO musicians could sometimes be "turbulent", but also "never destructively so".

In 2006, a new controversy began in the German press as to the quality of Rattle's concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, with criticism from the German critic Manuel Brug in Die Welt. One musician who wrote to the press to defend Rattle was the pianist Alfred Brendel. In 2007, the BPO/Rattle recording of Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem received the Classic FM Gramophone best choral disc award.

UNICEF appointed Rattle and the BPO as Goodwill Ambassadors in November 2007.

Conducting in North America

Rattle made his North American conducting debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (LAP) in 1979, and was their Principal Guest Conductor from 1981-1994. He also guest-conducted the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Boston Symphony Orchestra. His New York City debut was with the LAP in 1985.

In 1993, Rattle made his conducting debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra. He returned for guest conducting engagements in 1999, 2000, 2005, and will return in late 2007 to conduct Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri. The musical relationship between Rattle and The Philadelphia Orchestra was reported to be such that Philadelphia wanted to hire Rattle as its next music director after Wolfgang Sawallisch, but Rattle declined. However, Rattle continues to guest-conduct with The Philadelphia Orchestra in what is currently his sole North American guest-conducting engagement.

Musical styles and recordings

Rattle has conducted a wide variety of music, including some with period instruments (musical instruments contemporary with the music being played), but he is best known for his interpretations of early 20th century composers such as Mahler, with a recording of Mahler's Second Symphony winning several awards on its release and being regarded by some as Rattle's finest recording to date. He has also championed much contemporary music, including the tv series Leaving Home, where he presents a 7-part survey of musical styles and conductors with excerpts recorded by the Birmingham Symphony. His meticulous realization of some of the great Romantic works has forged a somewhat intense style. This is exemplified in his new cycle of the Beethoven Symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic – although the orchestral playing is recognisably Viennese, there is a noticeable "period-instrument" quality to the sound. His newest recordings with the Berlin orchestra (as of 2006) have, on the whole, been favourably received, notably his recordings of the Dvorak tone poems and Debussy's La Mer. The Gramophone Magazine praised the latter as a "magnificent disc" and drew favourable comparisons with interpretations of the piece by Rattle's immediate predecessors, Claudio Abbado and Herbert von Karajan. He has also worked with the world famous Toronto Children's Chorus. Recently Rattle and the BPO recorded Holst's Planets (EMI), which was the BBC Music Magazine Orchestra Choice. In addition, Rattle's complete 1989 recording of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess was used as the soundtrack for the 1993 television production of the work. It was the first made-for-television production of Porgy and Bess ever presented. Rattle's 2007 recording of Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem received praise from BBC Music Magazine, as "Disc of the Month" for April 2007, "as probably the best new version of the Requiem I've heard in quite some years." Rattle and the BPO recently released Bruckner's Fourth Symphony, Romantic, and Haydn's Symphonies Nos. 88-92 and sinfonia concertante. Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker released the recordings of Mahler's Ninth Symphony on December 11, 2007. EMI is to release part of the live performance of the Silvesterkonzert 2007, whose repertoire includes Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, Borodin's Second Symphony and Polovtsian Dances. This disc is to be released on January 14, 2008.

Personal life

Rattle's first marriage was to Elise Ross, an American soprano, with whom he had two sons. They were divorced in 1995 after 15 years of marriage. His second wife was Candace Allen, a Boston-born writer. This second marriage ended after Rattle and the Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená began a relationship. Kožená and Rattle have a son, Jonas.

Discography

Main article: Simon Rattle discography

References

  1. Nick Barratt (1 September 2007). "Family detective". Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
  2. "Artist Details: Sir Simon Rattle". Askonas Holt. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  3. Sholto Byrnes, 'Simon Rattle: Marching to a revolutionary beat', The Independent (4 August 2006), paragraph 29
  4. Elisabeth Jay, 'Obituary: Dorothy Bednarowska', The Independent (17 January 2003), paragraph 6
  5. Muriel Spark and Simon Rattle in honorands list
  6. Oxford University Gazette, Encaenia 1999, Supplement (1) to Gazette No. 4517 (25 June 1999)
  7. Peter Conrad, "What's so funny about Beethoven?" The Observer, 29 April 2001.
  8. Andrew Clements, "Picking up the baton". The Guardian, 24 June 1999.
  9. Fiachra Gibbons and Kate Connolly, "Rattle set for classic music's top job". The Guardian, 12 June 1999.
  10. Ivan Hewett, "Wilkommen Sir Simon!". Telegraph, 7 September 2002.
  11. Kate Connolly and Amelia Hill, "Rattle fires parting shot at Brit Art bratpack" The Guardian, 25 August 2002.
  12. Vanessa Thorpe (30 Sept 2001). "Rattle's rage at 'amateur' Arts Council". The Observer. Retrieved 2007-08-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. Kate Connolly (8 Sep 2002). "Roll over Beethoven, here comes Sir Simon". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  14. Kate Connolly, "Rattle's rapturous debut". The Guardian, 9 September 2002.
  15. Martin Kettle, "My crazy idea". The Guardian, 30 August 2002.
  16. Peter G. Davis, "German Reengineering". New York, 13 February 2006.
  17. Stephen Everson, "The end of the affair". The Guardian, 20 September 2003.
  18. Charlotte Higgins and Ben Aris, "Is Rattle's Berlin honeymoon over?" The Guardian, 29 April 2004.
  19. Ivan Hewett, "Can Rattle rival the greats?". Telegraph, 21 December 2004.
  20. Charlotte Higgins, "Karaoke, wild tigers, hysteria: Rattle on his turbulent affair with the Berlin Philharmonic". The Guardian, 7 January 2005.
  21. Manuel Brug (11 May 2006). "Überwältigungsmusik, aber kaum Durchdringung". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 2007-08-17. Template:En icon
  22. Alfred Brendel (31 May 2006). "Criticism of Rattle is really out of tune". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  23. Erica Jeal (5 October 2007). "Batons at dawn". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
  24. UNICEF: UNICEF appoints Berliner Philharmoniker Goodwill Ambassador 2007-11-17.
  25. Allan Kozinn, "Rattle Leads the Philadelphia In Mahler's Ninth Symphony". New York Times, 16 December 1993.
  26. Anthony Tommasini, "Did Briton, Wielding Sibelius, Audition For a Job?" New York Times, 28 January 1999
  27. Bernard Holland, "A Sense of Gluttony But an Easy Surrender". New York Times, 26 January 2000.
  28. Allan Kozinn, "Top Conductors, Top Orchestras, Brahms in Common". New York Times, 30 January 2004.
  29. David Patrick Stearns, "Rattle's rocky road". Philadelphia Inquirer, 2 February 2006.
  30. Jan Moir, "I hate to see myself conducting". Daily Telegraph, 21 March 2003.

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City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra music directors
Berlin Philharmonic
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