You could be forgiven for thinking Simon Rattle was already back permanently in England after his 13-year fling with the Berlin Philharmonic.
First there was his pair of concerts with the LSO, widely believed to have secured him as its next principal conductor. Then Wigmore Hall announced it had bagged the maestro for a recital with his mezzo soprano wife Magdalena Kozena next season. And now we have a six-concert London residency of the Berliners with Rattle, organised by the Barbican and Royal Festival Hall.
The occasion is Rattle’s 60th birthday and everybody, understandably, wants a slice of the cake. For his three Barbican concerts, Rattle chose the cycle of seven Sibelius symphonies.
There were times in the first concert when one sensed not everything was gelling as seamlessly as usual. The Barbican acoustic may have had something to do with it: Rattle has long made clear what he thinks of London’s concert halls.
The unfolding of the organic process in both symphonies seemed more arduous than expected. In terms of sonority too there were surprises, and the sometimes oppressive sound world was closer to the rugged Finnish landscapes supposed to have inspired Sibelius than the Mediterranean warmth that (for the Second Symphony) actually did.
These performances were nevertheless full of heart-stopping moments. The climactic pages of the Second Symphony were delivered with the exhilarating release of tension of which Rattle is a master.
See the concerts on BBC4 from February 15
