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At home with Simon Rattle: ‘There are still things I feel are beyond me’
The world-famous conductor, now 70, on family life in Berlin, why music keeps you young and the bleak outlook for the arts in Britain
Fairy lights – we meet shortly before Christmas – accentuate that impression, with Rattle’s own front garden entering the spirit, complete with illuminated Bambis and skeins of bulbs winding round railings, gate and shrubbery. They are absolutely fantastic players.” Alex Ross, writing in the New Yorker last month, struggled to identify the Berlin Phil’s singularity: “I’ve compared it, over the years, to a Rembrandt interior, a Russian men’s choir, and deep-focus cinematography.” It’s a fine way to sum up the inexpressible. Interesting, exciting, fascinating, lonely, depressing… all those things’ The childhood home was full of records: from classical to big band to popular music of his parents’ time, including all the Frank Sinatra songs with Burt Bacharach.
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