For Christmas my wife gave me tickets to Carnegie Hall in
New York. It has the best acoustics of any auditorium I
have ever been in. We went to hear one of the four concerts
of Beethoven symphonies performed by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim. I cannot believe that someone with that
much to give does not have a title in front of his name.
The orchestra was founded by Barenboim and his friend the Palestinian-American
scholar Edward Said. It consists of Israeli, Palestinian and other
Arab musicians. It was thought of as an
experiment believing that people who live together and play together must have
a dialog. What can be more important in
the Mid-East. I cannot comment on the
politics within the group but from the way they play they will all go straight
to heaven. The first notes I heard
tonight of Beethoven’s Pastoral (6th) Symphony brought tears to my
eyes, it was so beautiful.
It is incredible to watch Barenboim conduct. Sometimes, for moments, he allows the orchestra to play with no
guidance and then at just the right moment he points to the wind instruments or
the strings to bring them in in a forceful or quiet manner. At times he seems to scold with his fist and then he lets
his fist and baton fly as he builds the orchestra to great new heights.
He obviously pushes his pupils and expects them to give
their all as he does. I found it quite
cool in the hall and kept my coat over my knees but the Maestro and his
orchestra were pouring sweat and the handkerchief to wipe the brow came out
more than once.
At one point there was a thud in the orchestra and one could
see a fleeting concern cross the maestro’s face, had an instrument fallen had a
chair or musician collapsed but as quickly as it came it dissolved and Barenboim plunged back into the
music.
It is obvious that Barenboim knows the score intimately as
does his orchestra and the Maestro does not have music in front of him. I had
the feeling, that as far as the
orchestra was concerned the musicians had the score but they were too deep into the music to even look.
It seems very much a case of teacher and pupils working
together to give an exquisite performance, one that they can both be proud
of. When the symphonies were finished
the shouts and standing ovation did not cease.
Barenboim came up to the front for a couple of bows but for at least
three of the “curtain calls” he just stood among the musicians signaling various
instruments to step forward to be recognized and he shook hands with numerous
musicians individually and he even hugged one or two. He was obviously as thrilled at the way they
performed as the audience was. After the
conductor left the stage for the last time many of the musicians shook hands or
hugged each other as well.
What an incredible evening and what an incredible treat this
was. I plan to buy the Barneboim/West-Eastern
Divan Orchestra 5 set CD of all the Beethoven symphonies, but I doubt it will be
nearly the magical experience that the live performance was.
