Berlin Philharmonic performs with kids
Ronald Blum

NEW YORK—Simon Rattle stood in front of the Berlin Philharmonic, stretched across in front of the United Palace Theatre’s stage, and he towered above as if he were a mop-topped giraffe.
Instead of playing at Carnegie Hall, their usual New York home, the famous musicians trekked to the Washington Heights section of northern Manhattan on Saturday night and performed Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du Printemps” with 94 schoolchildren dancing the ballet. The kids had been rehearsing “The Rite of Spring Project” since Sept. 24, and their two weekend performances capped Carnegie Hall’s “Berlin in Lights” festival, which ran for 17 days and included 50-some events. Rattle and Berlin set the example.
This performance, choreographed by Royston Muldoon, followed a similar 2003 staging in Berlin, one year after Rattle took over as music director of what many consider to be one of the top two orchestras in the world along with the Vienna Philharmonic. Why aren’t the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera and other music institutions involved in projects such as this? Ten or 20 years from now, perhaps a few of these students will have become professional performers.
The dancers were ebullient. Before the ballet, 81 students who had worked with the Berlin music staff since Oct. 29 played and sang an original composition, “Ritual Rhythms,” based on the same themes as “The Rite of Spring.” With choral singing, solo parts, rap and pulsating percussion, it was an innovative 25-minute work. During intermission, Rattle and the orchestra were honoured as UNICEF goodwill ambassadors.
As always, Rattle’s music was vibrant. The theatre’s acoustics were a bit dry (and some members of the audience kept talking), but the thrilling sounds of Stravinsky’s score came through. Earlier in the week, Rattle and Berlin gave three memorable concerts at Carnegie Hall, each of which began with a contemporary work paired with a Mahler masterpiece. The highlight was a magisterial account of the Ninth Symphony on Tuesday night. Playing of the woodwinds and horns was enchanting. The cellos were as warm as any in the world. Rattle frames the soft sections with intervals of quiet around each note. It was astounding, but not as emotionally wrought as the performances of Leonard Bernstein and Georg Solti.
“Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth)” was next on Wednesday night, with tenor Ben Heppner and bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, and the 10th Symphony on Friday in the Deryck Cooke completion of the unfinished score. Heppner filled the hall with clarion notes, then Quasthoff with poignant ones in the concluding “Der Abschied. (The Farewell).” More than most conductors, Rattle has found the soul of the 10th, a work more unwieldy than the Ninth but nearly as compelling.
Opening works were Magnus Lindberg’s “Seht die Sonne (See the Son),” Thomas Ades’ “Tevot” and Gyorgy Kurtag’s “Stele” — with the first two pieces receiving their U.S. premieres. Ades’ composition, with a Hebrew title, was the strongest, with an eerie opening and surprising twists of theme throughout. Lindberg’s piece was less inventive, sounding more like background music. The Kurtag (the title refers to a gravestone) was ominous and effervescent at the same time.
Rattle has settled into the Berlin job. When he first took over from Claudio Abbado, who had succeeded Herbert von Karajan, Rattle seemed to be coaxing the orchestra. Now he seems more at one with the players, guiding them through the music rather than pushing them.
Before Berlin took over the stage, Rattle protege Gustavo Dudamel brought his Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra to Carnegie Hall for two performances. The 26-year-old Dudamel, who takes over as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the 2009-10 season, has a shock of wild black hair in the Groucho Marx mode. He presided over what may be the most attractive orchestra in the world — with the musicians under 25 and visibly excited to be on Carnegie’s stage.
He jumped up and down like Bernstein, and the music was bubbling if perhaps a bit raw. Berlioz’s “Le Carnaval Romain” overture came at rapid speed last Sunday. After an elegant performance of Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto with Emanuel Ax, Dudamel presided over an invigorating account of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. The orchestra then put on jackets with Venezuela’s colours of yellow, blue and red for three encores. They yelled “Mambo” repeatedly as they got up and shimmied while playing the piece from Bernstein’s “West Side Story.”