Intermezzo

Piano for sale, 128 careful owners

The Berlin Philharmonic are to auction off one of their pianos to raise funds for UNICEF’s emergency relief for children in East Africa.

The 1992 Steinway concert grand has done sterling service over the years. These were the ivories Alfred Brendel chose to tickle every time he appeared at the Philharmonie, and he will attend the auction. Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Leif Ove Andsnes, Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Yefim Bronfman, Radu Lupu, Evgeny Kissin, Murray Perahia, Menahem Pressler and Lars Vogt are some of the other pianists who have played it. Needless to say, it has been maintained in top condition.

The auction takes place in the Philharmonie concert hall on 28 May, and will be streamed live on the Digital Concert Hall service.

If you're thinking of putting in a bid, deep pockets are required; serious bidding can be expected to start at €50,000+, and I wouldn't be surprised if it raised €100,000 or more (the starting price of a new instrument).

Dresden 2 - Berlin 0

For the second year in a row, the Dresden Staatskapelle have won the New Year's Eve TV ratings war against the Berlin Philharmonic.

The much-criticised decision of broadcasters ZDF and ARD to air their classical offerings in direct competition with each other didn't deter more than 2 million viewers from tuning in to the early evening slot. 1.22 million (5.8% of the total) went for Dresden on ZDF and just 980,000 for Berlin on ARD. Impressive though they are, these figures represent a small drop from last year's 1.67 million and 1.19 million.

After the late withdrawal of Anna Netrebko and Erwin Schrott, Dresden fielded Angela Denoke, Piotr Beczala and Ana Maria Labin. Their all-Lehár programme under the baton of Christian Thielemann was clearly calculated to capture the Andre Rieu audience.

Simon Rattle's Berlin choice was only marginally more cerebral, with Evgeny Kissin's Grieg concerto nestling amongst toe-tapping dances by the likes of Dvořák, Stravinsky and Richard Strauss. 

You can watch the whole Berlin Philharmonic concert free for a limited period on Medici TV.

Christian Thielemann - Salzburg's new Easter Bunny?

photo: Matthias Creutziger

It seems €1.2m for the orchestra and €135,000 for the conductor isn't enough for eight nights' work from the Berlin Philharmonic. After their not-so-surprise defection from the Salzburg Easter Festival to the more remunerative Festspielhaus Baden Baden from 2013, the race has been on to fill their shoes. Now it looks as if the obvious choice (and favourite of the highly influential patrons' association) may be about to sign a deal.

Simon Rattle's late niters

The Berlin Philharmonic are taking a leaf out of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment's book next season.

In the spirit of the OAE and their after-hours Night Shift, the Berlin Philharmonic are trying out late evening concerts in 2011/12. Simon Rattle will conduct five hour-long sessions beginning at 22.30. These will follow regular subscription concerts. Admission will be free for visitors to the earlier concert, and 10 euros otherwise. With regular prices at the Philharmonie topping out at nearly ten times that amount, it's a real bargain.

Claudio Abbado, back in Berlin

Berliner Philharmoniker / Claudio Abbado / Anna Prohaska / Maurizio Pollini - Philharmonie Berlin, 13 May 2011

Friday night at the Philharmonie marked the start of Berlin's Mahler Week, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the composer's death on 18 May 1911. But the generous two hour programme wasn't Mahler all the way - just the Adagio from the unfinished 10th Symphony. As two years of Mahler saturation drip to a close, that was plenty enough for my well-sated palate.

Berlin Philharmonic abandon Salzburg Easter Festival

 
 
After years of will-they, won't-they, the Berlin Philharmonic have finally decided to part company with the Salzburg Easter Festival. Next year's will be their last. From 2013 they set up camp in Baden Baden instead.

For 'financial reasons' (ie, more money), the orchestra wanted the Festival extended from two performance cycles to four, with a significant expansion of the Chamber Music and Education side, but they weren't able to come to agreement with Festival management.

The 2011 Festival ran at only 82% capacity (including an unspecified number of free tickets), in part because of astronomical prices for the best seats. Without further public subsidy (or reduced orchestra costs) it's hard to see how this could be turned around.

The production of Parsifal planned for 2013's Festival will now be seen in Baden Baden. The previously-announced collaboration with Madrid's opera house will not be affected.

The Salzburg Easter Festival itself is expected to continue. Already the Dresden Staatskapelle under Christian Thielemann are being spoken of as possible successors to the Berlin Phil.

yea verily the Berlin Philharmonic have walkethed among us

Berlin Philharmonic / Simon Rattle - Barbican and Southbank, 20 - 23 February 2011

If you've been reading the papers over the past few days, you might be forgiven for thinking you'd missed the Second Coming. 

The Berlin Philharmonic's four back-to-back nights in London have been greeted by near-universal gushing, including an emotional Guardian editorial invoking Karajan and Furtwängler. Has there been anything quite that overheated since, well, since the last time we had Berliners over? - Daniel Barenboim and his "handsome mahogany-toned Staatskapelle Berlin" to be precise.

And did they earn it?

 

The Rolls Royce of orchestral blogs

 
As befits an orchestra which boasts its own private Lufthansa 747, and stays in gold plated hotels, the Berlin Philharmonic didn't do things by halves when it came to documenting their recent tour of Asia and Australia.

Financial Times/Bloomberg journalist Shirley Apthorp provided the words and top stage photographer Monika Rittershaus the pictures for what must be the most luxurious orchestral tour blog ever seen.

Berlin Philharmonic just got cheaper

The Berlin Philharmonic have revised the pricing structure for their Digital Concert Hall.

One of the new options is a €9.90 ticket that gives access to one live concert and all of the 60+ concerts in the digital archive for 24 hours. This means, if you're really keen, you could watch concerts for under €1 each. Enough to make your hair curl.

You can also (for a limited time) register at db.com to view a webcast of the season's opening concert on 27 August live and *free* (numbers are limited so don't hang around).

Good Gott - Salzburg Easter Festival part 5

Götterdämmerung - Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg, 5 April 2010

If only Stephane Braunschweig's Götterdämmerung was half as interesting as the zombie death bunnies I spotted in this Salzburg baker's window. 

The lacquered minimalism of his boutique hotel-style sets was certainly easy on the eye, but hardly fascinating enough to compensate for a largely static production, bereft of dramatic tension or any overarching concept. Wagner's contextual challenges were dodged with limp fire and water projections and a Tarnhelm that brought to mind that immortal line from Raising Arizona: "son you got a panty on your head". It's hard to escape the conclusion that he simply lost interest in the project somewhere down the line.

Macabre in black leather - Salzburg Easter Festival part 4

Berliner Philharmoniker / Rattle - Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg, 4 April 2010

"You! Rude people! One boo and Barbara and I will break your legs!" Not the sort of comment you expect Simon Rattle to confront the audience with in the middle of his own concert.

St Matthew Passion - Salzburg Easter Festival part 3

Berliner Philharmoniker / Rattle - Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg, 3 April 2010

Soloists - Camilla Tilling, Magdalena Kožená, Mark Padmore, Topi Lehtipuu, Christian Gerhaher, Thomas Quasthoff, Axel Scheidig, Soren von Billerbeck, Jorg Schneider; Rundfunkchor Berlin, Salzburger Festspiele Kinderchor

Bach's St Matthew Passion is big enough to stand up to almost any kind of treatment - or mistreatment. Opera, theatre, ballet, historically-informed, conductorless - you name it. Even so, placing the direction in the hands of Peter Sellars, best known for his interventionist opera productions, might sound on paper a step too far. But it turned out his direction (or 'ritualization' as the programme has it) was understated and intelligent, an aid to understanding not only the text, but also the musical structure of the work.

Verdi's Requiem reconfigured - Salzburg Easter Festival part 2

Berliner Philharmoniker / Jansons - Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg, 2 April 2010

Soloists - Krassimira Stoyanova, Marina Prudenskaja, Jonas Kaufmann, Stephen Milling; Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks

 
I'm sure Mariss Jansons wouldn't agree that practice makes perfect. Always in search of further refinements to his interpretations, he continues to study even the most familiar works, confident of gaining fresh insight each time he does so. Nevertheless, three performances in Berlin a couple of weeks ago, plus another one here in Salzburg earlier in the week, not to mention his long history with the work must all add something to the technical quality of the performance, which was almost inevitably unimpeachable.

And yet he still managed to add something new. It's often trotted out that there are two ways to tackle the Requiem, operatic or ecclesiastical. But Jansons has uncovered a third, the symphonic, where all the disparate 'numbers' are integrated into the whole in a way I've never heard before. A seamless narrative unfolded, punctured only by bold silences, held to the limit. Within this overarching structure, Jansons explored every dramatic extreme, from the fire-and-brimstone Dies Irae to the tender vocal pianissimos. However sudden the shifts, they always seemed musical and inevitable, never just vulgar attention-seeking effects.

Jonas Kaufmann sounded perhaps the best I've ever heard him, his dynamics perfectly calibrated and every word weighted with meaning. Just two words - a thrilling kyrie eleison - and he had me. The rest of the soloists came close to matching him. Stephen Milling wobbled a little in his first few bars, but soon settled into a steady and rounded performance. The Requiem ideally needs a rich, creamy mezzo, and Marina Prudenskaja (who impressed me as Octavian in Stuttgart recently) was more skimmed soy, but she sang with tremendous expression attention to text. Krassimira Stoyanova began well, with rich, radiant tone, but flagged towards the end, falling behind the beat here and there and not always intoning correctly.

Still, it was an enthralling and tremendously powerful performance, fully deserving of the unanimous standing ovation it received.

*****   photos and more overleaf   *****

Berlin Philharmonic want your money and they want it now

Thought about what you're doing in 15 months time yet? Tickets for the Berlin Philharmonic's February 2011 London visit went on sale today.

The Berliner's four-night residency takes in both the Barbican and Southbank, and members of either can buy tickets now. Non-members will have to wait until 14 December.

Although the concerts are unlikely to sell out immediately, most tickets are at the spendy end of the scale (up to £75), and already the limited 'cheap' (£15) seats are thin on the ground - so early booking is advisable for these.

More details and ticket sales link here.

future of Salzburg Easter Festival in doubt

The rumours have been flying around for weeks. Now the impeccably well-informed music critic of Die Welt Manuel Brug confirms that whatever official denials may be issued,

the Berlin Philharmonic are pulling out of the Salzburg Easter Festival from 2012.

The Berlin Philharmonic are the only orchestra featured in the festival, which is run independently from the summer event based around the Vienna Philharmonic. Grumblings about the level of subsidy and a lucrative competing offer from Festspielhaus Baden-Baden are believed to feature in the decision. Eagle eyes may have already noticed that the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, which in the last few years has shared the Easter Festival opera production, is not doing so in 2010.

The incoming summer festival boss, Alexander Pereira, had suggested incorporating the Easter Festival opera into the summer schedule, thus presumably spreading the costs. But Brug claims this offer has little appeal compared with the lucrative private engagements available to the Berliners in the summer months. The start of the Philharmonie season at the end of August also limits their availability.

A significant part of the Easter Festival's attraction has always been the rare opportunity to hear the Berliners in the opera pit. It remains to be seen whether it would be viable to continue with an alternative orchestra in place.

Gustavo Dudamel drives Berlin Philharmonic to the edge

Berliner Philharmoniker / Dudamel / Viktoria Mullova - Philharmonie Berlin, 7 March 2009

Arnold Böcklin - Die Toteninsel

Rachmaninov Isle of the Dead; Stravinsky Violin Concerto; Prokofiev Symphony No. 5

Gustavo Dudamel has moved way, way beyond playing samba with kids, even if British press reviews don't always reflect this. Even if his abilities didn't always match his ambitions, this all-Russian programme proved that he deserved to be handed the keys to the Aston Martin of orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic.

Relentlessly rolling rhythm and the growling basses of the Berlin Phil married in a dark and brooding reading of Rachmaninov's Isle of the Dead (inspired by the painting above). The moments of repose were too few and too restless to provide the necessary structural contrast, but this journey can rarely  have been made with such propulsive urgency.

Dudamel remained at sea in a different sense with Stravinsky's Violin Concerto. It was the only time he used a score all night - a misbehaving mini-version that wouldn't lie flat. There was little to suggest he'd seen the work before ever in his life (despite having played it here the two previous nights). He seemed reluctant to impose anything beyond a tempo on its spare classical lines.

And there was no sense of collaboration or interplay with the soloist, Viktoria Mullova. She seemed even more buried in the score than he did, and it was hard to escape the impression she was sight-reading. Like many in the audience, not to mention several members of the orchestra, I diverted my attention to the fascinating flexion of the impressive Madonna-muscled arms and back revealed by her airy origami-parachute frock.

But Dudamel redeemed himself and then some with his storming Prokofiev. And this time, no score. Pinpoint-precise playing anchored the outrageous exuberance. He may have sidelined some of the work's inherent complexity and contradictions, but you couldn't wish for a more confident and vibrant reading. The orchestra played out of their skins for him and rose as one the second it was over. Those who complain that Dudamel doesn't shape work as a whole have a point of sorts, but they're missing another one. Dudamel at his best lives and plays absolutely in the moment - and it's an intense and exhilirating ride, if you're open to it.

Dudamel is called back for about his 10th bow (no kidding) - orchestra have already gone home:

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flip over for more photos............

Berlin Philharmonic take a stand

Here's something I hadn't noticed before. Check out those three words tucked away at the bottom right hand corner of every page on the Berlin Philharmonic's web site.

It's a direct link to Netz gegen Nazis - Net against Nazis - an online project aimed at combating right-wing extremism. Initiated by die Zeit newspaper and supported by various partners in Germany including football organisations and TV channels, it offers advice on keeping the extremists' views out of everyday life - 'not to agitate but to inform'.

It's still some distance from Barenboim-style direct engagement with the issues of the day. But at least the Berlin Phil are leading the way for other orchestras to consider using their website for something more important than tickets and t-shirts.

L’Enfant et le Berlin Phil

Berliner Philharmoniker/Rattle - Philharmonie Berlin, 26 September 2008

The Berlin Philharmonic rarely sound like the world's greatest orchestra in the boomy Royal Albert Hall or the desiccated Barbican, but on their home patch, in the acoustically-engineered architecture of the Philharmonie, it's a different matter. Its strange angles seem to pinpoint every note. The precision tapestries of Ravel's Ma Mère l’oye and L’Enfant et les sortilèges< came alive.

Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic were performing the same double bill 

for three nights in a row (beneath a mic-draped ceiling, suggesting a recording is in the offing). It made for a short evening - 30 minutes one end, 45 the other - but like one of those incredibly dense, incredibly rich chocolate cakes, a little went a long way.  

Ma Mère l’oye balanced complexity with weightlessness. Only the surprise volume of the sudden fortissimo a few bars from the end made me realise how quietly the rest had been played, and how subtly Rattle had delineated the crisp changes of texture. Like a series of dressage manoeuvres, it's partly a showcase for solo skills, and all were faultlessly handled.  

I recall Simon Rattle, as he left England to take up the Berlin job, criticising modern British artists for being 'biographical'. Well, no composer could be less biographical than Ravel, so perhaps it was predictable that Rattle seemed in his element. He didn't search dig or embellish, simply presented it in crystal clear focus. A masterpiece of charm, taste and workmanship.

L’Enfant et les sortilèges is a difficult one. It doesn't get many fully-staged outings on account of its odd length and the physical demands of its fantasy storyline. In some ways it's more like a cartoon script than a theatrical text. But the same demands would make a totally straight concert performance confusing and inadequate. The choice here, a concert performance with indicative costume and movement, seemed a reasonable compromise, and the singers had enormous fun with it.

Magdalena Kožená made a wonderfully brattish, exasperating Child, even if the Pudelkopf did her no favours. The other singers threw themselves into their multiple roles with great gusto, tiptoeing round Simon Rattle's podium for a bit of physical interaction where required. The miaow duet of Sophie Koch and François Le Roux was the go-for-broke highlight, but the flowing coloratura of Annick Massis as Princess and Nightingale, and Nathalie Stutzmann's carefully variegated Mother, Teacup and Dragonfly enriched the mix too.

Rattle kept the orchestra unassertive, but there was no loss of intensity or commitment, and it was clear they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The subject-matter and its glib treatment may suggest both pieces are 'children's music' (and I did love Andre Previn's classic LSO recording all those years ago) but there's enough wit, invention and plain old craftsmanship there to draw in the most demanding adult too. I can't say I was spiritually uplifted, but I was at least cheered up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magdalena Kozena turns into Simon Rattle

Yes, it really is her. And I don't think it's a wig either. Just mad tonging skillz and Elnett. Magdalena chose tonight's performance of L’Enfant et les sortilèges by Sir Simon and his Berliner Philharmoniker to unveil this 'interesting' tribute 'do.

 

Sir Simon, meanwhile, found another dame to channel:

Berliner Philharmoniker - beautiful isn't always best

Proms 64 and 65: Berliner Philharmoniker / Simon Rattle - Royal Albert Hall, 2 and 3 September 2008

Wagner Tristan und Isolde - Prelude and Liebestod, Messiaen Turangalîla Symphony

Brahms Symphony No.3, Shostakovich Symphony No.10

If you've ever seen photos of Simon Rattle in action, you might assume he just stands there with his gob gated open all night, like an angler fish on the ocean bed. In reality, he talks non-stop, or at least mouths. I wish I could lip read. I'm pretty sure I caught a couple of "help me"s but the rest is a mystery.

I was able to study the Rattle platform manner at close hand on Tuesday night from my surprisingly pricy (£23) seat in the choir stalls, tucked behind the Berlin Philharmonic's gleaming tubular bells and pleasingly close to the Berlin motor itself, the tigerish growl of the basses.

Of course a lot of water can be lost through an open mouth. That's why marathon runners keep theirs shut, and overheated doggies don't.

No wonder Sir Simon needed a mini-break halfway through the hour-plus Turangalîla Symphony to chug back some water behind the piano, coaxing the obliging violas into a bit of quite unnecessary 'retuning' to cover.

It was a wonderfully lucid account of this lengthy and problematical, inherently episodic work. If talent borrows and genius steals, then Messiaen could be a musical Einstein. Rattle drew out the direct quotations from Wagner's Tristan more clearly than I've ever heard before - and of course it did no harm to hear the wellspring itself, exquisitely presented, at the start of the evening.

Messiaen's anointed, Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the piano and Tristan Murail at the ondes Martenot, brought a special authority. Where the work could have tipped over into Gershwin-pastiche vulgarity, Rattle wisely settled on festive exuberance.  

There was a more honed predictability about the second concert. Despite the near-perfection of the orchestra's playing - or perhaps because of it - Rattle seemed content to lay back and bathe in the immaculately polished sound.  While there's nothing wrong with loveliness for its own sake, I find this orchestra at their best when they're nearer the edges of their comfort zone, as they were with the previous night's Messiaen.