Sir Simons Rattle conducts the Advent Calendar Benefit Concert – Munich

One can hardly imagine anything that equals this beauty. Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO), which plays for the benefit of the Advent calendar of Süddeutsche Zeitung, and the ninth symphony by Gustav Mahler is playing. This ends in an adagio of almost incomprehensible, delicate beauty, which on this evening in the Isarphilharmonie becomes a philosophical, transcendental experience that assures you that there is light even in the darkest times of the Pademie.

That fits perfectly with this benefit concert, because the advent calendar is there to bring joy and hope to people. Hendrik Munsberg, Deputy Advent Calendar Board Member, also tells in his welcoming speech what the proceeds from the concert will be used for, among other things: for two foundations that help freelance artists who are in need due to the pandemic and organize concerts at schools. Sir Simon is a conductor who, like no other, infects young people with music, wants to and is able to inspire them for music. During a brief encounter after the concert, the beaming rattle said how happy he was about the SZ’s request for the benefit concert, which has already become a tradition. “We’ll continue there. It’s great to be part of it.”

It is a shame that only 450 visitors, a quarter of the possible number, are allowed due to the current Corona situation. One can only hope that many who have followed the concert on the stream will feel animated by its fabulous effect to donate for the advent calendar.

At the same time, the concert has a completely different meaning. A little too, because it is dedicated to the memory of Bernard Haitink, who died in October and worked with the orchestra over and over again for decades. Above all, it is the first time that the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra will play in the Isarphilharmonie under its designated boss – Rattle will be chief conductor in Munich in 2023.

Even if Hendrik Munsberg emphasizes in his welcoming address that the BRSO is still waiting for its own hall in the Werksviertel, which is to become the first concert hall for the digital age, full of opportunities to introduce young people to music, Rattle and his orchestra have to do it first live once with the Isarphilharmonie, which will be the main venue next to the Herkulessaal for the next few years. You obviously live with it very well, and Rattle takes it very seriously. Musicians tell how exactly Rattle rehearsed, how he once gave an assistant the baton and explored the whole hall, walking around in the stalls, on the balcony, because he wanted to know what the hall sounds like.

Also because of the intensity of the rehearsals, it was not possible to meet Sir Simon for an interview. But you could submit written questions that were asked after two days of rehearsal. Answers were then received after a procedure that was tantamount to preparing a government declaration, which apparently was hardly due to Rattle and his basically rather pragmatic nature. Mahler’s Ninth is an excellent piece for acoustic tests of all kinds, sometimes the music flows in the largest ensemble like an immeasurably broad stream, then it is rhythmically sharply accented and again and again Mahler reduces the ensemble to the highest intimacy, produced by a few, sometimes completely alone Instruments.

Rattle, custodian of the “homeless orchestra”, writes that there is still a lot to try out in the Isarphilharmonie. “When you get a new violin, you have to learn how to play it.” He is very familiar with the warmth of the Hercules Hall, which he greatly appreciates, and now he has an instrument that is less of a challenge than the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg – he calls it “high-resolution photography” – but because of its large number drier acoustics. “We are still in the process of finding the repertoire, but we are very grateful that we have a place like this.” He is curious to see how much “big sound” the hall can handle, and in fact in some places in the concert you can experience how the acoustics close a little with maximum occupancy, as if a lid were on the podium. But when this lid opens, you will be flooded with perfect melodious sound.

The musicians also have to get used to the Isarphilharmonie first. Rattle also says that they can hear each other very well on the podium, better than in any other hall in this city, but at the same time, some report, they do not (yet) have a real idea of ​​how the music will go down with the audience . Well, you can assure them that what arrives is mind-boggling.

Overall, Rattle praises the Isarphilharmonie as a really well-functioning auditorium. “But nobody would build a concert hall like this if you knew what expectations you had of a full-fledged concert hall of the 21st century, of an institution that broadcasts almost every concert on the radio or via stream. But it is really good to know That something like this is even possible! The dream of a place, a lighthouse project for music and art, with important educational components, with music education offers, with the digital possibilities of the 21st century, is not realized here in the interim. If you want to develop an orchestra further , and if you want to advance the cultural capacity of a society through an orchestra, there has to be a reliable place. It all sounds like science fiction to the BRSO. “

The cooperation between Rattle and the BRSO is by no means the future, but concrete reality. At this memorable concert one has the impression that there is great trust between him and the musicians.

Rattle gives a lot of freedom, lets the music live. 90 minutes of music and not a second is a coincidence. With the beginning you can already hear the end, and at the end the beginning reverberates. After sadness, melancholy, after the musical description of full life and the memory of it, this gentle, comforting light remains. It is also a resounding symbol that a conductor and an orchestra have found each other.

When it’s all over, not only the audience, who initially froze in disbelief, applaud gratefully, but also the musicians applaud their future boss. Rattle accepts this gratitude and gives it back to his orchestra. He stands moved between the musicians, his eyes moist. It seems like they have all just confessed their love to each other.