Conductor Simon Rattle turns 70: always a shining light

When Simon Rattle last conducted the Berlin Philharmonic as their leader in 2018, the only part on the program was Gustav Mahler’s unpopular Sixth, which featured wild minor attacks and many broken idylls. Rattle developed the piece from memory and virtuosity as (his) confessional music; The cheers in the Berlin Philharmonic were enormous. No other conductor than Simon Rattle, who celebrates his 70th birthday this Sunday, would have chosen this unwieldy piece. A piece that the then thirty-two-year-old Rattle, who had long since made a splash as head of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, had already chosen for his debut with the Berliners in 1987.