It’s ‘Leb wohl!’ from him…
Ratttle bids a Mahlerian farewell
The time has finally come for Simon Rattle to step down from the LSO podium and head to Munich and the open arms of the Bavarian Radio Symphony. He’ll make his last appearances as music director with two concerts at this year’s Proms. The first, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri in its first complete performance at the Proms, features the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, with an international cast including Magdalena Kožená (aka Mrs Rattle). The second sees the conductor preside over Mahler’s Ninth, which is rather fitting as it was the composer’s own farewell (albeit a rather more permanent one).
Rattle’s appearance on 27 August will mark his 78th Prom, which is a remarkable record – indeed he has only been absent for six Proms seasons since he made his debut in 1976. His first Prom was with London Sinfonietta at The Roundhouse and featured a programme of contemporary works by Birtwistle, Lutyens and Barry Guy, while his debut at the Albert Hall came the following year, again with London Sinfonietta, conducting Stravinsky, Mozart and Schoenberg. He returned with the Philharmonia, English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic and Berlin Philharmonic before taking to the stage with the LSO for the first time in 2017 (Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder). So Rattle will surely be back with the Bavarians, though he is likely relishing the thought of a full-time return to Germany given his recent, and very vocal, response to the general state of the UK’S musical landscape. So it’s only farewell, for now, we hope…
Prom 49, 22 August & Prom 56, 27 August
Remarkably, Rattle’s appearance on 27 August will mark his 78th Prom