Simply the best? What really sets the Berlin Philharmonic apart
The Berlin Philharmonic, led by Kirill Petrenko, is performing at the Proms in London after a triumphant close to the Edinburgh festival. The piece examines why the orchestra has long been called the world's best despite a troubled history and conservative repertoire.
The Berlin Philharmonic is performing at the Proms in London tonight and tomorrow, just days after closing the Edinburgh international festival in style — its first visit to Scotland in over two decades. Under chief conductor Kirill Petrenko, the orchestra is a regular Proms fixture, with its Royal Albert Hall concerts widely regarded as season highlights. Tonight's programme pairs Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony with Elgar's rarely performed Enigma Variations, while tomorrow brings Beethoven's Violin Concerto alongside Scriabin's unruly Third Symphony.
A troubled history
Founded in 1882, the orchestra became the Nazi-sponsored Reichsorchester in 1933. Its four Jewish members, including leader Szymon Goldberg, were forced into exile. Performances were used for political propaganda — broadcast on radio and film, featured at the 1936 Olympics opening and Nuremberg rallies. Conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler publicly criticised the Nazi regime, but the orchestra as a whole could not escape its role in promoting the myth of German cultural supremacy.
Post-war transformation
After the war, conductor Herbert von Karajan remarkably reshaped the orchestra's image into a symbol of de-Nazified, modern West Berlin freedom, reinforced architecturally by Hans Scharoun's futuristic Philharmonie hall built near the Berlin Wall in the early 1960s. Karajan also pushed the orchestra to the forefront of recording technology, and its Digital Concert Hall today remains a model for streaming and audience access.
What makes them exceptional
In terms of repertoire, the Berlin Philharmonic is far from adventurous — next season leans heavily on Mahler — and it lags in diversity, with only one female conductor, Elim Chan, and few female composers scheduled. Still, the article argues the orchestra's true strength lies in transforming a group of formidable individual musicians into a collective capable of extraordinary precision and power, achieved largely through Petrenko's meticulous, rehearsed-to-perfection approach.
