Superstar’s glittering declaration of intent
The London Symphony Orchestra has rolled out the red carpet for its new Music Director, Sir Simon Rattle. A grand opening concert couldn’t be enough to welcome back the superstar conductor, after his 16-year sojourn as head of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Only a 10-day festival entitled This is Rattle would do, with three curated composer-concerts, a performance of Berlioz’s immense Damnation of Faust, and much else.
But how to begin? As Rattle said in a filmed interview shown on stage between performances, it was a no-brainer. British music is living through a golden age, with a profusion of world-class composers, and Rattle wants the LSO to be their champion.
So the opening concert had to be a declaration of intent, with no holds barred. Four modernist pieces, backto-back – if you count the opening newly-composed fanfare – with only Elgar’s Enigma Variations to give comfort to LSO patrons who like a good tune.
It was the kind of programme that would normally half-fill the Barbican, at best. But such is the power of Rattle’s name that the place was packed. The applause was warm when he appeared, but not tumultuous. We’ve often seen Sir Simon at the helm of the LSO recently, so perhaps the orchestra had stolen some of its own thunder.
The concert’s first half was supercharged with clanging percussion and towering brass-drenched harmonies. First came that brand-new fanfare, from the 35-year-old Helen Grime. It flitted between bold fanfare and exuberant striding dance, and ended with the harmonic equivalent of a question mark. In most circumstances it would be strikingly coloured and bold, but it paled before the explosion of colour and sheer power that is Thomas Adés’s Asyla. Rattle and the orchestra relished every moment, and made sure the moment when the piece evokes the relentless frenzy of a club night felt truly disturbing.
The violin concerto of Sir Harrison Birtwistle was scarcely less dissonant, but offsetting the din were moments of delicate inwardness and even wit, beautifully projected by violinist Christian Tetzlaff, sometimes in dialogue with the gruff beast of the orchestra, sometimes with a solo player. The ending provided the evening’s most delicately poetic moment. After the interval came the glowing, flutteringly impressionistic Third Symphony of Oliver Knussen, completed in 1979 when the composer was a mere 27, followed by an affectionate but at times indulgently expansive performance of Elgar’s Enigma Variations.
It was a bold programme, fabulously played, which reminded us that Rattle’s taste in new British music inclines to the glittering sort that harks back to Ravel and Stravinsky. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but British new music is a house of many mansions. We must hope that over time, Rattle visits many more of them.
‘British music is living through a golden age, with a profusion of world-class composers’