Today’s the day Sir Simon Rattle blows out 70 candles. Among many tributes, we have selected this beautiful article by Ariane Todes, former editor of Strad magazine, describing what it was like to play in his orchestra as an amateur.
Simon Rattle is looking straight at me, eyes flaring, fist shaking. I am straining with every fibre of my being to give him what he wants. I would die for this man right now. I’m desperate to shape the phrase just as he’s showing, sustaining the long note and getting louder over the arpeggio. But I over-push the sound, my notes crack, I lose my focus and have to break eye contact to look at the music, ashamed of myself. I’m reminded why I decided not to become a professional musician.
Yet for five days in May, with 100 other amateur musicians, I was allowed to dream. We were the guests of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, selected (by video audition) from 1,900 applicants from 30 countries to be part of the BE PHIL Orchestra, conducted in Brahms’s First Symphony by Sir Simon himself. When we meet for the first time in the foyer of the Philharmonie, we are like giddy children who have won Willy Wonka’s golden tickets.
Over the first two days, we rehearse with conductor and Berlin Phil violinist Stanley Dodds, one of the brains behind the project. He balances and tunes us, points out important lines, characters and details, makes us listen to each other, and gives us an idea of Rattle’s tempos. On day three we learn that Rattle is in the building – a buzz goes round the coffee room and everyone tries to act normal. And then he’s on the podium welcoming us. ‘I’m so delighted. Thank you so much. I can’t wait. Let’s just play some Brahms.’ And how we play: our focus and energy are through the roof.
In our six hours of rehearsal with Rattle, his enthusiasm and commitment never wane. He offers historic context: Brahms only added the introduction after hearing Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, so although usually his music should never sound like Wagner this is an exception. There are narratives to help bring out the emotional complexities: one bar, Brahms is full of longing for Clara Schumann; the next he remembers he’s living in the house of her husband and his mentor. Jokes: Woody Allen’s one about his brain being his second-favourite organ (for when the double basses aren’t following the baton). Analogies: Siegmund Nissel of the Amadeus Quartet’s likening of the string quartet to a bottle of wine applies also to orchestras: the cellos are the bottle, the first violins the label – but the second violins and violas are the wine itself.
We also witness flashes of frustration …
Read on here.
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