Simon Rattle: from Birmingham to Berlin Nicholas Kenyon Faber and Faber, 358pp, £20 ISBN 0571205488

Twenty years ago, it seemed as if there would be no "next generation" of great conductors. Although the baton had passed seamlessly from the pre-war generation of Wil-helm Furtwangler, Bruno Walter and Eric Kleiber to their successors - the likes of Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein and Carlo Maria Giulini - the generation after them seemed, in comparison, minor talents. There were no more greats, and we appeared condemned to live in an age where an ability to beat time properly was the best we could hope for in a conductor. It was no wonder that this period coincided with the rise of the "authentic instrument" brigade, many of whose early adherents made a supposed virtue of time beating: the time they beat, they claimed, was more authentic than that of traditional conductors.

How bizarre that fear seems today. Those such as Valery Gergiev, Maris Jansons and Christian Theilemann stand comparison with the best in history. Gergiev is incapable of the dull or routine phrase, and even a conductor such as Sir Colin Davis, who for years was neglected here in his home country, is enjoying the recognition he deserves as one of the most transcendent musicians on the planet.

It is thus a sign of just how great a figure is Sir Simon Rattle that, even among so many wonderfully gifted peers, his talent is genuinely unique. Most conductors specialise in one, perhaps two, areas of the repertory - and are no less worthwhile for that. A very few - Furtwangler and Walter, for instance - have been equally adept in every area. Rattle, too, appears to have no limitations; whether it is baroque, classical or modern (he has even recorded Duke Ellington), he is utterly at ease, and equally outstanding.

It is clear from Nicholas Kenyon's admirably straightforward and readable book - as he puts it, journalism rather than biography or history - that Rattle's very different musical self-education is in large measure responsible for his musical sweep. Most conductors begin with the classics - Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, perhaps Bach - and gradually move into later pieces - Mahler, and perhaps other 20th-century greats such as Bartok, Shostakovich and Britten. Rattle has developed in precisely the opposite way. As a precocious schoolboy, he put together scratch performances of Mahler and learnt to love 20th-century music. As a developing professional, he moved backwards, only very gradually gaining his confidence in the classical repertory of Mozart and Beethoven as time, and performances, went on. His first Beethoven symphony recording was, incredibly, released only this summer.

Rattle is unique in having something - not just something, but something wonderful - to offer across the board. But he is also unique in another respect: while there are other conductors, such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Sir Roger Norrington, who work with both "authentic" and traditional orchestras, none synthesises the styles so well. Rattle's work with the authentic instrument Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is, more often than not, sensational. He manages to bring the best of both worlds together - combining the refreshing, different sound world with a proper interpretation, rather than the glorified run-through of the score that is the usual fare of the authentic brigade.

And he is maturing with every performance. The thought of what he might do over the next 20 or 30 years is mouth-watering, especially as he is about to launch on a new phase as musical director of the Berlin Philharmonic.

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