No more arguing? Right...

While doing just a bit of research on programming in the Berlin Philharmonic (to be exact, how much Richard Strauss do they play?  Very little), I came upon this review of the BPO February 2011 set of concerts in London.  Herein, the reviewer, Fiona Maddocks, heartily implores us to dispense with the term "arguably the best" when talking of the orchestra.  Chief music critic of The Observor, Ms. Maddocks takes no pains in her expressed veneration of the ensemble and its conductor, Sir Simon Rattle.

Rattle

Maddocks even poses the question, "What's its secret?" to which Rattle can only reply, "It's a mystery."  After all, he did assume the helm of this famed band after 35 years with the mercurial Herbert von Karajan and a shorter tenure with the more "loving" Claudio Abbado.  Changes have obviously taken place:  the average age of the musicians is a youthful 38 years, the number of foreign musicians has increased, but there remain only 17 women in the ensemble.

Here's a telling excerpt:

Rattle used the word "fierce" to suggest his players' unifying quality. The Scottish horn-player Fergus McWilliam, in a pre-concert talk about his quarter century in the orchestra, offers three others: passionate, visceral and sensual. There is no inhibition, and no awaiting instruction. They move with a physicality that would be distracting were it not for the fact, as here, that they all do it. Rattle compares the Berlin Phil to "a flock of birds". Make your own analogy: a wheat field in high wind, maybe, or anything to suggest the many who, valued individually, act as one.

Of course arguments can be made (and were in the "comments" section) about the level of state support received by the BPO, as if that is a fault.  Rather, to me, it is a very strong statement by the German government that they value this cultural gem above all else and will do nearly anything possible to continue its cultural legacy.