Defeating COVID-19 by human decency - Rattle, Berliner Philharmoniker

Simon Rattle (Photo : Doug Peters)

Disastrous as COVID-19 is, can we learn from it ? At the Philharmonie, Berlin, Simon Rattle conducted Berio and Bartók to an empty hall, streamed internationally free of charge. Inevitably sneers from those who still don't know there's a pandemic around, and above all, cannot understand the role of music in difficult times.  It wasn't just any concert : of course there was no encore or applause.  An empty house brings home the message : millions might suffer and die. We can't take life or anything else for granted. And even those who survive will be scarred. (and lose their livelihoods in the economic downturn).  Concerts are live experiences, influenced by circumstances around them. To dismiss the human side of communication is to dismiss the whole point of music.

As Rattle said, there are connections between Berio Sinfonia and Bartók Concerto for Orchestra.  Both deal with memory, and the multiple threads that influence the way composers and listeners absorb their response to life and to music.  Berio's Sinfonia covers a sprawling range of human experience, questioning the way we process  that experience in music.  It is such a seminal work that it gets done very often indeed, and most people know it well, but it's not at all easy to pull off properly. (there are some lousy ones).  It's a Rattle speciality. Of the numerous performances I've heard,  this was a high point : sharper and tighter, extremely focussed.  Berio's  singers were English, establishing the tradition of British-sounding accents, which is relevant because it distances the voices from the German, Italian and other influences in the work. The soloists Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart are "English" enough but also "musical" enough to fit in with the music.  Even if this wasn't a special event concert, this performance would be up there near the top.

Rattle's introduction to Bartók Concerto for Orchestra was typically understated but that made it all the more powerful.  In this world it's not all me, me  me.  Good peoiple don't fight over toilet paper and abuse strangers.  Possibly even worse than the virus is the way it's revealed how deeply entrenched xenophonia is in this world, so endemic that even seemingly normal peopleshow their evil side.

The performance is superb, as to be expected since he's done this dozens of times, but make the time to listen to what Rattle says.  In these times of crisis, this is utterly relevant; humanity and  empathy for others is all the more important. That's why msuiciands are sacrificng their livelihoods and carrers, so the virus doesn't spread. No-one should have to die because some people want to go out.

In 1940, Bartók was a refugee in a new land, cut off from his creative roots. He was despondent, and broke. He was unknown and unwell. Smasll boys used to tease him in the street, as small boys do, alas.  He became ill,  and might have died in obscurity like so many others in his position. Fortunately, Serge Koussevitzky cared about him, aranging that he be treated with  a new experimental drug then only available to military personnel. One man helping another : passing on the flame as in Berio's Sinfonia. The Concerto for Orchestra  was another act of kindness, since it gave Bartók an income and new inspiration.  

Once he began writing, his mood lifted as if he were rejuvenated.  Although there are familiar "Hungarian" themes in the piece, it's not fundamentally nostalgic.  Bartók was looking back on his past, well aware of what was happening in the Europe he'd left behind, and of the right wing extremism in Hungary, whose government aligned itself with Hitler.  Rattle understands the granite-like inner strength in the piece and the firm lines beneath the nostalgia. Perhaps Bartók was drawing on sources in his psyche that went much deeper than folkloric colour. The ethereal opening theme developed until it emerged with expansive confidence. The music seems to oscillate, highlighting the more disturbing undercurrents in the work, alternating with moments of expansive feeling.  Rattle negotiated this constant flux, tempi spiriting along as if propelled by winds of change. This concert's being repeated on the Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall regularly, in the absence of regular programming. 

Rameau Hippolyte et Aricie - Staatsoper unter der Linden

Jean-Philippe Rameau Hippolyte et Aricie at the Staatsoper unter den Linden Berlin, staged last November, now on arte.tv. with Simon Rattle conducting the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.  When Hippolyte et Aricie was premiered in 1733, it was considered radically inventive.  Baroque tastes were extravagant. Louis XIV, Le Roi Soleil, and his successor, Louis XV,  epitomized the aesthetic: audacity, not gentility,
vigour, not timidity.  Rameau and his audiences were so well versed in classical antiquity that they didn't need character development in the modern sense, and had no problems with symbolism and stylization.  The plot, as such, is allegory as much as drama, more poetry than narrative. 

At the premiere last year, this production, directed by Artletta Collins, wasn't well received, critics judging by surface appearances. So there are mirrors, mists, shadows and beams of light ? That's pretty much part of the plot. Diana is the goddess of the night and of hunting (ie strategems),  Diana doesn't like sex so when her protégée Aricie falls in love,  Destiny has to intervene to ensure that Hippolyte and Aricie can get together and restore Natural Order.   Get that and everything else falls into place. The sub-plot of Phèdre and Thésée ties in with that too, since Phèdre's obsession with her stepson isn't natural, nor orderly.  So Ólafur Elíasson's sets and costumes look "space age" ?   Why not, when extraterrestial beings like Gods interact with men and women? fantasy and imagination, not literal realism.  Modern audiences, conditioned by TV, need to adjust to this very different approach to art, to appreciate it on its own terms.  When Glyndebourne did Hippolyte et Aricie with William Christie - someone whose Rameau credentials cannot be challenged - many complained because the production wasn't abstract enough. (Please read more about that HERE).  

Significantly, Collins, who directed, is also a choreographer, so this production reflected dance in the widest sense - movement, dancers moving in ensembles that shifted shape and patterns. Again, the principles in the plot and in the music itself, at once formal and free spirited. The dancers more or less occupied the background, creating a backdrop of ever-changing rhythm, while the singers dominated centre stage.    That baroque sense of unity and order prevails too in the way the singing seems to grow organically from the music. No leitmotivs as such ! Excellent cast - Anna Prohaska (Aricie), Magdalena Kožená (Phèdre),Reinoud Van Mechelen (Hippolyte), Gyula Orendt (Thésée) and Peter Rose (Pluton), with Simon Rattle conducting the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.  Prohaska and Van Mechelen were outstanding, their voices expressing personality.  Rattle and the Freiburgers  have good rapport: this orchestra has a very individual sound, which Rattle makes the most of.  I neither loved nor hated the visuals but they made a lot more sense than they got credit for.  But thanks to Rattle and the Freiburgers, and to the singers, this Hippolyte et Aricie came to life as music.

Rattle's Valediction : farewell as Chief in Berlin (listening link)

Simon Rattle's farewell concert as chief Conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker livestreamed Thursday,  now audio-only on Deutschland Kultur til 26th June. Mahler Symphony no 6,  chosen because that was what they did in their first concert together some thirty years ago. In the sixteen years that Rattle has been Chief Conductor , the Berlin Philharmonic has developed and grown.  They're sounding wonderful.  Harding has been doing Mahler 6 since he was in his early 20's and over the years, his approach has deepened. This "farewell" with the Berliners was a valediction.   Nuts to assume that this symphony is "tragic" because of its name tag The third hammer blow emphatically does not fall !  As nearly always in Mahler resolution is not defeat but a kind of liberation. 
Forcefulness right from the start, the marching pace confidently defined. From this the more esoteric theme emerged, strings suggesting new, distant horizons.  Dichotomy matters in Mahler, and Rattle gets the way the composer layers different concepts of texture and motion. Magnificent surge led by the strings, evoking warmth and perhaps, memories of a happy past, punctuated by the march.  Thus the quirky shrillness that creeps in, for the march is (like so much in Mahler) almost grotesque, since time does not stand still, however much we might regret.  The richness in the Berliner's playing emphasizes the beauty of life, enhanced by the "sparkling" near silence that follows and the return of the "horizons" theme and plaintive violins and winds.  A good sense of struggle between what the march symbolizes and the sassy freedom it attempts to suppress, and a vigorous conclusion to the first movement, intensifying the poignant tenderness of the Andante.  Many of the Berlin musicians are consummate soloists and Rattle highlights the finesse of their playing  This is a gorgeous orchestra, and Rattle makes the most of what they can do.  Shimmering, mesmerizing beauty, so lovely you could almost weep.  Yet deeper timbres take over, propelling the movement forward : alas, we cannot linger !  The last moments gleam, phrases stretching out like the last rays of a golden sunset before darkness sets in.
Thus the vigour in the scherzo with its "screams" and sharp outbursts against the surge.  Yet in the quieter passages, the pulse remains strong, the heartbeat regular.  When the elusive "dance" appears it's like a reiminder that better times haven't been in vain, even though the groaning basses and bassoons might demur.  Again, Rattle defines the themes well, bringing out their mysterious interplay.  Thus we can follow the logic of the trajectory,  where all the strands are drawn together in the Finale.  Every sound contributes to the whole, nothing wasted, nothing lost in this powerful conception, and withn the Berliners, everything works, perfectly. Everyone talks aboutb the hammer blows as they are sheer theatre, but the cowbells matter, too. As the "clouds" of darkness draw in, the pace slows so we can take in the enormity of what they might represent. Then suddenly the symphony ends with an emphatic flourish.  We might expect the finality of death but Mahler lets  the ending hang.  It's not "over" when it ends.
A wonderful performance and very individual.  An orchestra is a business like any other, and Rattle's leadership has built upon Abbado's legacy.  Karajan may have been made conductor for life, but that's not necessarily a healthy situation, for any organization.  Better that Rattle's built on Abbado's legacy, where musicians count, not just the boss man, and where the enjoyment of music for its own sake is fundamental, and open to all.  What  Rattle brought to Berlin was his enthusiasm and his sheer love of music, and a solid track record of orchestral development. (which is why London wants him so much).  . Every Chief symbolizes a new era, and in the last 16 years, the Berlin marque has expanded and grown.  What of the future ?
 

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Powerful statement - Rattle Metamorphosen, Das Lied von der Erde

By pairing  Mahler Das Lied von der Erde (Simon O'Neill, Christian Gerhaher) with Strauss Metamorphosen, Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra were making a truly powerful statement. The Barbican performance last night was no ordinary concert. This performance was extraordinary because it carried a message. Metamorphosen deals with annihilation, the symbolic death of civilisation. Das Lied von der Erde confronts annihilation but offers transcendance, through metamorphosis.  Whether Rattle realized or not, the Massacre of Nanking started on this day, 80 years ago, one incident in a century of horrors. Music doesn't exist in a vacuum. It can enhance our sensitivity to what happens around us.

In Metamorphosen, Strauss overturns the cliché that strings are necessarily "romantic". His strings operate together like a chorale, in which the voices are too numb to articulate except through abstract sound.  Hence the haunted sussurations, generating a haze of sound which both suggests and obscures meaning.  The bombing of German opera houses was, to Strauss, symptomatic of a much wider trauma : the scenes of past triumphs literally going up in smoke. Rattle and the LSO strings defined  the textures so well that the effect was almost claustrophobic : moments when the first violin rose above the density shone, illuminating the background.  Rattle also, suggests how "modern" the piece is, with its subtleties and its Night and Fog ambiguity.

Simon O'Neill and Christian Gerhaher were the soloists in Das Lied von der Erde, an interesting combination since their voices are so different, and a choice which also intensified meaning.  In performance, singers interact with each other, and with the orchestra, so a good choice of singers contributes to interpretation.

O'Neill is a Wagner tenor, capable of great force. He's also a singer who inhabits roles, bringing out the psychology of the characters he portrays. Wagner heroes aren't nice, or romantic, so the metallic quality in O'Neill's timbre works particularly well in suggesting inner conflict.  Some of his keynote roles are Siegmund and Tannhäuser, men who have experienced life to the full.  In Das Trinklied von Jammer der Erde,  the tenor does not want to die, and struggles against Fate. Defiantly, he raises his Gold'nen Pokale to drink himself insensate. Even when O'Neill sang the word "Das Firmament" he laced it with poisoned irony. The harsh truth is that apes will howl on abandoned graves. In Chinese culture where heritage is sacred, this image is horrific : the Id consuming the Ego, barbarity annihilating civilization. When O'Neill sang the words "wild-gespenstische Gestalt", he spat them out with a savagery that showed how well he understood the context.

In complete contrast, Christian Gerhaher sang with serene smoothness,  which worked well with O'Neill's intensity. DasTrinklied vom Jammer der Erde and Der Abschied form two pillars, between which the protagonist reflects upon his life. The voices don't operate in dialogue, but suggest  different parts of the same persona, as does the mirror image of  the half  moon bridge reflected in the pond.  Gerhaher had been singing for years before he shot to international stardom in Tannhäuser with an astonishingly beautiful O du holdes Abendstern, still his signature role.  Wolfram represents purity, the Wartburg tradition where battles are fought by song. Wolfram's a paragon, Tannhäuser raddled and cursed, but Elisabeth chose the bad boy, who had lived.  Gerhaher is one of the finest Wolframs ever, but O'Neill, is an excellent Tannhäuser.  In so many ways, this Das Lied von der Erde could have been Tannhäuser the Rematch, a level of meaning that's essential to understanding.

Das Lied von der Erde represents a traverse from life to sublimated afterlife. The images in this song symphony are pretty, but doomed.  O'Neill established the right emotional tone, while Gerhaher's serenity acted a foil.  The images in the text are pretty, but pointed.   The young men will no longer prance on their horses as they did when young, the friends in the pavilion will part. Gerhaher's calm smoothness reminded me  of Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, who salves troubled souls. Lotus blossoms dignify Kuan Yin in Chinese mythology. The roots grow in darkness and dirt, but the flowers grow towards the sun. The maidens pluck them because they are edible : a source of nutrition in every sense. Eventually the poet/protagonist is silenced, with only a bird (woodwind) as guide (like Siegfried).  Then in Der Abschied  the journey metamorphosed onto another level altogether.  Gerhaher's singing here was exquisite, well modulated and even paced, the last words "ewig...ewig...ewig" expressed with depth and richness.

This Rattle/LSO Das Lied von der Erde was also outstanding because Rattle understood its structural architecture.  The work is remarkably symmetric, dualities creating internal links within and between each section. The singers’ voices are paralleled by flute and oboe. The repeating refrain "Dunkel ist das Leben ist der Tod" connects to the much more esoteric "ewigs" with which the work ends.  Each song ends with an emphatic break, which Rattle clearly marks, for each song closes a door and moves on. In Der Abschied, there are multiple inner sections, interspersed with orchestral interludes which serve to mark transitions. Whatever is happening now is beyond the realm of words alone: like a kind of transition in which something is gradually distilled into a new plane of existence.  Think about the Purgatorio in what would have been Mahler's tenth. A pulse like a heartbeat throbs in the early songs,  which gradually resolves into the calm almost-breathing stillness in the end.  It may be fashionable in some quarters  to knock Rattle on principle because he's successful and famous, but that overlooks the fact that he has very strong musical instincts.  And the LSO plays for him as if divinely inspired.

Demon Dalmations !

Demon Dalmations ! Simon Rattle on the LSO season opener, The Damnation of Faust.

"“Every musician of my generation learnt about Berlioz from the LSO’s recordings with Colin Davis,” he says. “I remember being completely bowled over by their performance of orchestral extracts from Faust when I was about eight, and my sister quietly saying to me, ‘Actually, Simon, it’s the damnation of Faust, not the dalmatian.’ I’d assumed it was a story about a dog.”

(from an interview with the Times)

Barbican Spring programme picks

At last, green shoots of Spring emerging from the gloom. The Barbican Spring schedule offers plenty of hope

First off from 13-15 January, Simon Rattle conducts György Ligeti Le Grand Macabre, with the LSO and a strong cast headed by Peter Hoare as Piet the Pot. I love Ligeti's quirky music and enjoyed the ENO production by Alex Ollé and Las furas del Baus back in 2009  Read more here   That was the one with the giant woman whose body "was" the stage.  Le Grand Macabre is as frustrating as it is inventive, so staging it takes some doing  But I'm not sure what Peter Sellars will do to it  No doubt it attracts the mega-trendy crowd as it's selling fast though very expensive. (ROH balcony prices)  On 19/1, however, and just as high profile, Rattle is conducting  Mahler Symphony no 6 together with the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's Remembering 'in memoriam Evan Scofield'.  This is a keynote concert, which will also be streamed on the LSO website, a wonderful development, since it brings the orchestra to the world

Another British music world premiere the next day, 20/1, Philip Cashian's  The Book of Ingenious Devices, conducted by Oliver Knussen, together with Strauss Macbeth and Elgar Falstaff  An intriguing programme in true Ollie style – will Cashian's piece have Shakespearean connections?  Huw Watkins is the soloist so presumably it's a piano concerto of some sort. A big theme this season is "Russian Revolutionaries",  so plenty of Shostakovich, but more unusually, Galina Ustvolskaya's Symphony no 2 with the Melos Ensemble at LSO St Luke's on 21/1  That weekend, a Philip Glass Total Immersion with better choices than some recent Total Immersions.

All ears and eyes alert for Jonas Kaufmann's four-day residency at the Barbican at the beginning of February That's been sold out for months, so let's hope he will be well enough   Wagner, Strauss (Vier letzte Lieder, nach!)  he's also doing an "in conversation".  Sakari Oramo with the BBCSO and Antonio Pappano with the LSO, both interesting non standard programmes, and Daniel Harding with the LSO on 15/1 with Rachmaninov Symphony no 2 and another Mark-Anthony Turnage premiere,  Håkan with dedicatee Håkan Hardenberger as soloist.

Yet another British composer premiere, Nicola LeFanu's The Crimson Bird for soprano (Rachel Nicholls) and the LSO, conducted by Ilan Volkov on 17/2 and  a Detlev Glanert premiere on 3/3 with Oramo and the BBC SO.  An extended Nash Ensemble residency at LSO St Lukes (lots of RVW chamber music)  and Andreas Scholl on 14/3  Then two concerts with Fabio Luisi on 16th and 19th March I'm opting for the second, with Brahms's German Requiem

François-Xavier Roth starts another After Romanticism series on 30/3 with the LSO - Debussy Jeux, Bartok Piano Concerto no 3 and Mahler Symphony no 1. Then a three-concert series with the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert - John Adams, Mahler, and the European premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Cello Concerto.  Janine Jansen, Murray Perahia and Mariss Jansens with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and a keynote Dvořák Requiem on 13/4 with Jiří Bělohlávek, the BBC SO, the BBC Symphony Chorus, Brindley Sherratt, Richard Samek, Jennifer Johnston and Katerina Kněžíková   Then Easter is upon us!

What Simon Rattle could do for the nation

What's ahead for Simon Rattle?  When he steps down in 2018 from the helm of the Berliner Philharmoniker, the most prestigious job in the whole business, he'll be 63, much too young to  retire, Besides, he's such a dynamo, it's hard to imagine him lazing about. Conductors don't usually stop unless they have to, either like the inimitable Carlos Kleiber or like Takashi Asahina, who was conducting almost to the day he died, aged 93.

For my article Analyzed in context : Simon Rattle Concert Hall for London, see here.

So what's next for Simon Rattle? There have been rumours for ages that he'll take over at the London Symphony Orchestra, which isn't nearly in the same league as the Berlin Philharmonic, but then nothing is. In any case, there'd be a gap in the succession, since Gergiev and Harding are due to step down at the end of 2015. At this level, interim arrangements are hard to arrange. Salonen's contract with the Philharmonia ends 2017, while Jurowski's with the LPO has been extended to 2018.  Conductor chess also has to take in other changes on the European circuit. What if Thielemann gets Berlin? Or Nelsons? Barenboim might want the job, but who knows?

Rattle's been quoted as saying he'd like a new concert hall in London  Oh yes, we do!  So much has changed in acoustic engineering and architecture since the Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican, so the case for a state of the art flagship for London is pretty clear.  But in the present circumstances, where the anti-London bias prevails, that's problematic.  But you can't slot a new mega hall in just anywhere: it has to be central enough to be within reach of most of the population, and connected to the international circuit. Effectively that means London. Politicians like big capital projects because they win votes and mean largesse for contractors and so on.  But so what, if the whole reason for having a concert hall is being eroded, with cuts to funding for orchestras, without proper school-based music education, and with the BBC/Arts Council fixation on easy listening?  The ACE has slashed the Barbican's budget almost as savagely as it's slashed the ENO's, though the cuts are spread over different genres.

Even if a few hundred million could suddenly be magicked up, what about the commitment to support and endorse the performers within?  It's good software that makes things happen, whatever the hardware. Boris Johnson's  vanity project "Olympicsopolis"  doesn't even come close to addressing the real issues of the music  business. And even if Rattle won his point, it would take 25 years to fulfil.  Like, when he is 84.

In Birmingham, Rattle transformed the landscape, showing how  culture can benefit a city's identity and economy. Now London needs a charismatic communicator who can reverse the trend towards philistine destruction. London, and the nation, needs Rattle more than he needs us. I'd like to think of him  slacking off and playing with the kids, but he is much too precious an asset to miss out on.  At left, a photo of Rattle and the American conductor Calvin Simmons in 1975, when Rattle was conducting Glyndebourne. Simmons died aged only 32. Honour conductors while you can.

Rattle Sibelius Barbican LIVE plus Conductor Chess

Simon Rattle at the Barbican this week, conducting the Brerlin Philharmonic in all the Sibelius symphonies.  Tickets sold out almost as soon as they went on sale. Luckily, the concerts  will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 HERE HERE and HERE.  Rattle has been conducting Sibelius since early days at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He's good. With the  Berliners, he has an orchestra that did Sibelius with Karajan.  Enjoy! This is what the BBC does well and best. Long may this commitment to quality outlast current fashion. You can also listen to Rattle and the band doing Sibelius on the Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall.

On Saturday night, Rattle and the Berliners  do Mahler Symphony no 2 and Helmut Lachenmann's spectacular Tableau,  "a short, intense work which uses a huge conventional orchestra to unconventional ends. It's a perfect foil to the Mahler, a typical Rattle juxtaposition designed to make an audience sit up and think."  You bet!  This will also be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 HERE. 

Rattle  was the wildly charismatic whizz who turned the CBSO from a small-town band to one of the great orchestras in this country. The CBSO has aince become a springboard for Sakari Oramo and for Andris Nelsons, Edward Garner regularly works there too. What the Berliners needed when they chose Rattle in 2002 was a man who could develop the orchestra's profile. Obviously it was a superlative orchestra, and still is, but Rattle opened things out in other directions, helping to usher in the Berliner Philharmoniker we have today, with its international focus and adventurous programming.  There's a lot more to conducting than waving a stick.

After the Berliner Philharmoniker, there are no further peaks to conquer. Rumour has it that Rattle will take over at the Londoin Symphony Orchestra, where he's much loved. The band isn't as stellar as the band in Berlin, but Rattle's job would be to grow the LSO and the Barbican. In a way, back to his roots. Speaking of roots, the photo shows Rattle when his hair was dark - that's a natural Afro!

This week Alan Gilbert suddenly announced that he'll quit the New York Philharmonic. I don't know the inside story and I won't make wild guesses as to who might replace him.  Gilbert has conducted the Berlin Phil almost as many times as Dudamel, who Rattle took on as a protégé right from the start, and is bankable, if not musically demanding.  Soneone's got to pay the bills! Orchestras do not choose chief conductors on a whim. Any really significant orchestra (and its board) has some kind of vision for the future. and looks for a good fit.

Conductor chess is a game of skill, and genuine knowledge. I've discussed the Berlin succession before (follow my label Conductor Chess below and on the right)  Always, always, ask the questions first before speculating on answers. Where does the Berlin Philharmoniker want to go in 10 or 15 years.  Does the NY Phil want to go backwards or forwards.  As for Alan Gilbert, I hope he'll return to Europe  where his musical interests seem to lie.  There are huge differences between the US and Europe in terms of music, culture and audiences. Europe is the biggest pond of all, in which the biggest fish swim. That said, I don't think Gilbert will get Berlin, but there are other jobs coming up soon.

Bach St Matthew Passion Rattle Berlin Prom

Peter Sellars's Bach St Matthew Passion Prom with Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker can't have been anyone's top pick of the season because it's been done so many times and in so many places since first produced five years ago. There's a DVD and a relatively recent performance on the Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall with much the same cast as we had in London.In principle, there's absolutely no reason Bach Passions should not be staged.  Strict Lutherans didn't do theatre, but theatre is very much part of Christian tradition. Latin  Masses were mystical, artistic experiences. Modern masses put the emphasis back on what Christianity means, rather than thrills like flowers, statues and incense.

There's also no reason why Bach Passions shouldn't be reinterpreted in new terms. That said, it depends on what  the new terms are. I'm no fan of Peter Sellars's self-indulgent, often maudlin stagings which say more about him than about the music he's staging (which is fair enough).  Since I've seen the production several times I wasn't going to rush out to the Royal Albert Hall.  This isn't Sellars's worst. It's  relatively austere and moving in a simplistic way, which  might appeal to some. A friend did, however, go last night.  Here's his review !