Page 60 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Coverage Book 2023-24
P. 60
17 August 2024
Simon Rattle: my message to Keir
Starmer
As the conductor returns to the UK to lead his German orchestra at the Proms,
he talks about his career battles, Liverpool upbringing and fears for Britain
Simon Rattle with the London Symphony Orchestra in 2017
TOLGA AKMEN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Norman Lebrecht
Saturday August 17 2024, 12.00am, The Times
“Happy at last?” I ask.
Simon Rattle shoots me a guilty look. For two hours on a Munich sofa he has talked, no holds
barred, about his struggles with the world’s best orchestras. Finally he’s looking a bit contented.
We are having our first media session in 40 years. The timing seems apt: Labour have just won
the election; Rattle was once seen as the musical counterpart of the young Tony Blair. I ask if he
will be getting in touch with the new government.
