This DVD, recorded at a concert in Singapore’s Esplanade Hall as part of the Orchestra’s 2010 Southeast Asian Australasian tour, brought back fond memories of the same program – Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances and Mahler’s First Symphony – of the Berlin Philharmonic’s appearance at the Sydney Opera House, in a what-are-we-going-to-do-with-the-rest-of-our-lives experience.
The Rachmaninov work, his last orchestral score, has always been an enigma, part Slavic nostalgia and part darkly sinister glamour, with a dash of Hollywood glitz. Rattle’s tempo for the juddering introduction is the most dangerously slow I’ve ever heard. In Sydney, I was still so overwhelmed by the sensation of actually having heard them tuning (almost worth the ticket price in itself) just a few yards away, that I failed to notice just how slow it was, but what better way to experience simultaneously its unique fusion of heft and finesse? The saxophone solo is just the first of countless wonderful moments throughout the spectral waltz and the driven finale, where almost any other orchestra would feel pushed to the point of disintegration, instead of simply heightening the tension with complete control and rock-solid ensemble. Herbert von Karajan, chief conductor of the Orchestra for more than 30 years, resisted...
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