Monday, August 4, 2014

Coming up on the Digital Concert Hall (Berlin Phillharmonic 2014-2015 season)

With just over 3 weeks to the opening of the 2014-2015 Berlin Philharmonic season, here are some of the upcoming concerts on the Digital Concert Hall likely to interest readers of this blog. Simon Rattle will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of Sibelius's birth with a complete cycle of the 7 symphonies in 2015 (on the nights of February 5, 6, and 7). He will also be conducting a parallel Brahms-Schumann cycle in four evenings. The two first symphonies will be performed on September 18, with the next concerts on September 19, 25, and 26. This is an interesting idea. I look forward to a parallel Bruckner-Mahler cycle!

In the meantime Mahler enthusiasts will be able to enjoy Rattle conducting the 2nd Symphony on January 31, 2015 and several high profile guest conductors: Kirill Petrenko performing the 6th on December 6; Andriss Nelsons with the 5th on 25 April 2015; and Gustavo Dudamel conducting the 1st on 12 June, 2015. .

2014-2015 is a light season for Bruckner, but the mighty 8th on January 10 with Herbert Blomstedt will get 2015 off to a great start. 

There are some bleeding chunks of Wagner coming up – extracts from Götterdämmerung on October 25, conducting by Daniele Gatti, and Rattle conducting the Tristan prelude to close out the year on December 20.

Finally, Rattle conducts Beethoven's 9th on November 9 (in an unusual pairing with Szymanowski's Stabat Mater). 

It should an excellent year. At 149 euros for an annual subscription, this is one of the best values in classical music, particularly since all concerts can be downloaded for subsequent viewing on almost every device currently known to humankind. The audiovisual quality in the Digital Concert Hall is excellent. Get your subscription before the folks in Berlin work out how much this is really worth!