Auspicious start to LSO's new era of Simon Rattle

The opening concert of This is Rattle, a 10-day festival in honour of the conductor’s return to the UK, was superbly playedNo one could accuse the London Symphony Orchestra of underplaying the appointment of its new music director. Ever since it was confirmed in 2015, after months of rumours, that Simon Rattle would be returning to his native shore after 15 years as artistic director of the Berlin Philharmonic (where he still has one more season in charge), the LSO and the Barbican Centre, where the orchestra has its London home, have been laying plans for his arrival in what increasingly seemed likely to be less of a straightforward inaugural concert than the musical equivalent of a coronation. So we have This Is Rattle, a 10-day festival that includes talks, exhibitions and specially commissioned art works as well as a series of concerts, launched with a full orchestral concert that was also relayed on a big screen in the Barbican’s sculpture court outside. Related: Simon Rattle: ‘I would have been wary about taking the job had I known about Brexit’ Continue reading…
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