Simon Rattle: From Birmingham to Berlin - Softcover

Kenyon CBE, Sir Nicholas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571212441 ISBN 13: 9780571212446

Publisher: Faber and Faber, 2002

Synopsis

The most brilliant British conductor of his generation, Simon Rattlehas brought thrilling music-making to audiences around the world. Still in his mid-forties, Rattle became Music Director of the Berlin Philharmonic in 2002. What is the secret of his success, which has propelled him from being a Liverpool schoolboy with a fierce enthusiasm for getting orchestras together to his present stature as an internationally sought-after musician? Rattle is a musician for our times: a symphonic conductor with a repertory from Beethoven through to the present day, he is equally at home with the jazz of Duke Ellington and Leonard Bernstein, the historic performance practice of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, new music and the world of children's music education. Nicholas Kenyon's biography, first published in l986 to critical acclaim, is fully updated and expanded with new chapters charting Rattle's move from his eighteen years' historic partnership with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to his new post in Berlin. Kenyon also talks to friends and colleagues about what makes Rattle one of the most powerful musical communicators of our time.

About this title

About the Author

Nicholas Kenyon has been Managing Director of the Barbican Centre since 2007. He was Director of the BBC Proms from 1996 to 2007, and Controller, BBC Radio 3, from 1992 to 1998. He read History at Balliol College, Oxford, and his first post was with the English Bach Festival 1973-6. He was a music critic for The New Yorker, The Times, and the Observer, and has written the history of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the biography of Simon Rattle, edited the influential volume Authenticity and Early Music, and co-edited The Proms: A New History. He is a member of the boards of English National Opera and Sage Gateshead, a Trustee of Dartington Hall and a member of Arts Council England.

From the Back Cover

Simon Rattle, the most brilliant British conductor of his generation, has been appointed Music Director of one of the world's greatest orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic, from 2002. Nicholas Kenyon's acclaimed biography of Simon Rattle - which first appeared in 1986 - has been rewritten and expanded with new chapters charting Rattle's move from his eighteen years' historic partnership with the City of Birmingham Symphony to his new post in Berlin.
What is the secret of his success, which has propelled him from being a Liverpool schoolboy with a fierce enthusiasm for getting orchestras together to his present stature as an internationally sought-after musician? The first version of Nicholas Kenyon's biography - published in l986 - has been rewritten, expanded and updated, including revealing new interviews with the conductor and his friends and colleagues, as Rattle takes on the music directorship of the Berlin Philharmonic, one of the world's greatest orchestras. Kenyon talks extensively to Rattle, asks friends and colleagues about the gifts that make Rattle one of the most powerful musical communicators of our time, and look at the challenges that await him in Berlin.

Edition details

• Publisher: Faber and Faber
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0571212441
• ISBN 13: 9780571212446
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368