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H E R M A N , J E F F R E Y / A L A M Y I C T U R E S P, H A Y T H A M I M A G E S I F F / G E T T Y . S C H RN A N C Y : I O N I L L U S T R A T C O V E R Founded in 1923 by Sir Compton Mackenzie and Christopher Stone as ‘an organ of candid opinion for the numerous possessors of gramophones’ Rattle: good news for audiences old and new Few stories have generated such enthusiasm in both the classical and wider media as the appointment of Sir Simon Rattle as Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra. Of course, such positivity can bring its own challenges in terms of expectations to fulfil, but there’s no reason Londoners can’t celebrate today while still approaching his music-making with the same critical judgement they’d apply to any other conductor. What is exciting, though, is the appointment of someone for whom reaching out to new audiences, particularly the young, lies at the heart of his perception of what it means to be a musician in society. hoping that the bond built with his new ensemble will be a rich one. Thanks to LSO Live, that relationship will be well documented, starting with Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri this autumn. Given Rattle’s role in the Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall’s embrace of streaming, it will be interesting to see what the future might hold here for the LSO. Tellingly, when I asked about recording and broadcasting, Rattle defined success by describing a photograph of ‘one of the biggest ethnic Indian reservations, in Minnesota, with a film of Mahler Second from the Berlin Digital Concert Hall, broadcast on a barn, on an enormous white sheet, with the words “You never know who’s listening” underneath.’ Rattle’s tenure is unlikely to be marked by authoritarianism or detachment. In truth, the days of such maestros are largely in the past anyway; few conductors now desire to be such a figure. The tone was well set by the nature of the announcement itself. Not a grand unveiling in a large press conference, but an informal gathering of a small number of journalists around a couple of tables in a Barbican bar. Equally significantly, ours wasn’t Rattle’s first meeting of the day. Immediately before he’d come to speak to us, he had first met with the orchestra players. ‘I begged them, “Can we at least all look each other in the face before we make any kind of official announcement?”’ he told us. Rattle had symbolically – and quite rightly – sought to put his players before the press. Rattle’s musical strengths require little reiterating, though it’s worth pointing out that few, if any, conductors operating at this level have such broad musical sympathies, and audiences will be keenly Rattle speaks of the need for musicians to be ‘evangelists, not just high priests…we have to find ways to spread the word as far as is possible.’ Much of the focus on fulfilling such ideals centres on education initiatives, on taking music to audiences who might not otherwise have had a chance to hear it. This is vital. But recording and broadcasting has always been part of that mission too, allowing people to explore music wherever they are, and not least in areas of the repertoire that pose box-office barriers for even the most risk-taking programmer. Opportunities are only enhanced by digital developments, including – as Rattle himself put it - ‘things that probably we can’t even imagine now’. Given the LSO’s track record, I’m sure Rattle’s relationship with his new London audience will be one that those far beyond the bounds of the city can be a part of too. martin.cullingford@markallengroup.com THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS EDWARD BREEN recalls buying George Malcolm’s disc of Victoria’s Tenebrae responsories as a teenager and ‘I analysed The Rite of Spring while I was at the Peabody Conservatory,’ recalls Musician and Score writer encountering ‘a disc of Renaissance polyphony like no other…It shocked me but I couldn’t tear myself away.’ For this month’s Specialist Guide, he has chosen recordings suitable for Holy Week ‘which similarly capture arresting penitential atmospheres’. ANDREW FARACH COLTON .‘Zinman was Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony at the time and I would take masterclasses with him. To discuss Stravinsky’s masterpiece with him for Gramophone was a musical revelation and personal homecoming.’ ‘Writing about Hugh Wood was a special pleasure,’ says RICHARD WHITEHOUSE of this month’s Contemporary Composer. ‘I’ve admired his music since attending the premiere of his symphony at the 1982 Proms. Other contemporaries may have enjoyed greater commercial success and more frequent performances, but time will no doubt address this.’ THE REVIEWERS Andrew Achenbach • Nalen Anthoni • Mike Ashman • Philip Clark • Alexandra Coghlan • Rob Cowan (consultant reviewer) • Jeremy Dibble • Peter Dickinson • Jed Distler • Duncan Druce • Adrian Edwards Richard Fairman • David Fallows • David Fanning • Iain Fenlon • Fabrice Fitch • Jonathan Freeman-Attwood Caroline Gill • Edward GreenŸield • David Gutman • Lindsay Kemp • Philip Kennicott • Tess Knighton • Richard Lawrence • Ivan March • Ivan Moody • Bryce Morrison • Jeremy Nicholas • Christopher Nickol • GeoŸfrey Norris Richard Osborne • Stephen Plaistow • Peter Quantrill • Guy Rickards • Malcolm Riley • Marc Rochester • Julie Anne Sadie • Edward Seckerson • Hugo Shirley • Pwyll ap Siôn • Harriet Smith • Ken Smith • David Patrick Stearns • David Threasher • David Vickers • John Warrack • Richard Whitehouse • Arnold Whittall • Richard Wigmore • William Yeoman gramophone.co.uk Gramophone, which has been serving the classical music world since 1923, is irst and foremost a monthly review magazine, delivered today in both print and digital formats. It boasts an eminent and knowledgeable panel of experts, which reviews the full range of classical music recordings. Its reviews are completely independent. In addition to reviews, its interviews and features help readers to explore in greater depth the recordings that the magazine covers, as well as o fer insight into the work of composers and performers. It is the magazine for the classical record collector, as well as for the enthusiast starting a voyage of discovery. GRAMOPHONE APRIL 2015 3

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