Johannes Brahms - The Symphonies - Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

 

Release Date: October 6, 2009 Label: EMI Classics Number of discs: 3 Composer: Johannes Brahms Performer: Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra  cd info/ buy

Review:

Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker have recorded the complete symphonies of Johannes Brahms live in a series of concerts from the Philharmonie, Berlin. This is a major recording of music that is central to the tradition of the 127-year-old orchestra, and is bound to be as groundbreaking and revelatory as Rattle's earlier recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic. The combination of the incomparable sound and musicianship of the Berliner Philharmoniker and the iconoclastic, visionary approach that has characterized Sir Simon's music-making over the past thirty years is likely to result in a set of recordings that will challenge, invigorate, and refresh this well-known and cherished repertoire. Rattle's first Brahms recording with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Ein deutsches Requiem, won critical accolades and both Grammy® and Classic FM/Gramophone Awards. Now Sir Simon and the Orchestra have committed to disc the complete Brahms symphonies, recorded in concert at Berlin's Philharmonie in Autumn of 2008. In the words of Die Zeit, "Simon Rattle has finally dared to tackle Brahms with the Berliner Philharmoniker. He combines Furtwängler's monumentality with Karajan's beautiful sound . . .". Rattle confirms that performing these works with the Berliner Philharmoniker, which has been hailed as the world's greatest Brahmsian, orchestra "gives you a possibility of colours that you have almost nowhere else. . . . I can say to this orchestra, `I need a different sound' and the sound changes immediately."

 

Debussy - Orchestral Works, La Mer etc. - Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

 

Release Date: September 13, 2005 Label: EMI Number of discs: 1 Composer: Claude Debussy Performer: Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra cd info/ buy

Review:

Now that he is at the helm of the Berlin Philharmonic, Simon Rattle inevitably faces comparisons with the late Herbert von Karajan. The German conductor recorded both of these works with the Berlin Philharmonic, and Rattle's readings, finely controlled almost to the point of possessiveness, are, in their way, not unlike Karajan's, except more volatile. Especially in La Mer, the orchestral sound is almost too beautiful. Given Rattle's attention to detail, one almost loses the forest for the trees, as the cliché goes. Having said that, I must admit that Rattle is very seductive, and it is easy to be corrupted, if you will, by his Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and La Mer, if not completely satisfied in the long run. There are many fine recordings of both of those works, and Rattle's is yet one more. What makes this disc interesting, on the other hand, is the balance of the CD. La Boîte a joujoux is a ballet based on the imaginary lives of his daughter Chouchou's toys. Before his death, Debussy completed only a small portion of the orchestration, which was left to his pupil André Caplet. It is programmed and recorded rather infrequently, not because it is a weak work, but because it is not sensational, in the most literal sense of the word. This is, after all, music for dancers (or for puppets – at the time of his death, Debussy still was unsure as to how this work would be realized on stage). There is some "Mickey Mousing" in this ballet score, whose events include a battle between toys and a touching domestic scene for middle-aged dolls. Again, Rattle's reading is full of color and detail, and the score seems less pallid than it often does. The rhythms are sharp and there is nothing lazy about the playing, although Rattle doesn't fail to create a gently melancholy atmosphere in the work's later pages. The piano plays a featured role; here, Majella Stockhausen-Riegelbauer does the honors. British composer Colin Matthews is orchestrating all 24 of Debussy's piano preludes, a project which many will find either foolhardy or sacrilegious. (It will be interesting to compare his La cathédrale engloutie to Stokowski's!) We get to hear three of them here: Ce qu'a vu le vent d'Ouest from Book 1, and Feuilles mortes and Feux d'artifice from Book 2. Matthews had no interest in imitating Debussy's orchestral scoring. Instead, he tried to find his own equivalent for Debussy's pianistic writing. The results are hyper-colorful, even in the dour Feuilles mortes, and even garish in Feux d'artifice. I guess it is to Matthews's credit that the results are spectacular and utterly convincing, even if they have little to do with Debussy. Here's something to confuse your friends with, then, after a few glasses of sherry. Rattle and the Berliners snap them up hungrily. With outstanding engineering and big, bold performances, this CD will give a great deal of sensory pleasure. There's nothing wrong with that!--Raymond Tuttle

 

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Beethoven - The 5 Piano Concertos - Brendel,Rattle,Wiener Philharmoniker

 

 

 

What can Alfred Brendel possibly find in recording the Beethoven Concertos for the fourth time? For one thing, Simon Rattle and his characterful Viennese musicians provide a leaner, less monumental orchestral framework than James Levine and the Chicago Symphony did for Brendel in 1983 (let's not speak of Haitink's neutral backing for the pianist's seventies cycle!) Brendel downplays the Second Concerto's zippy humor this time, and belabors the finale's second subject with annoying point making. Conversely, he has simplified his approach to the Fourth Concerto's lyric embroidery, yet appropriately lets go in the rarely played alternate cadenza (the same used by Gieseking and Gilels). Brendel's hard won technique is now pushed a bit in the outer movements of the "Emperor" and C Major concerto, but brings a more colorful, internalized response to their central slow movements. Everything comes together in the Third Concerto, which, on balance, is the finest and most organically flowing of Brendel's four recorded versions. No modern-day Beethoven concerto sets quite surpass the brash angularity and spirited conductor/soloist give-and-take that distinguish the famous Fleisher/Szell/Cleveland cycle. But the Brendel/Rattle team have the sonic advantage, and William Kinderman's provocative notes shed further insight on both the music and the performers.—Jed Distler

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