Daniel Barenboim plays and conducts Beethoven, Piano concerto no. 5 / EuroArts Music International ; Andreas Morell, director.

Format:

Video

Contributor:

Morell, Andreas, film director.

Barenboim, Daniel, 1942- conductor, instrumentalist.

EuroArts Music International GmbH, production company.

Staatskapelle Berlin, instrumentalist.

Language:

No linguistic content

Subjects (All):

Concertos (Piano).

Genre:

Internet videos.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 video file (44 min., 29 sec.)) : sound, color

Other Title:

Beethoven, Piano concerto no. 5

Place of Publication:

[Place of publication not identified] : EuroArts Music International, [2007]

System Details:

digital

video file

Summary:

In a small apartment in Buenos Aires where Daniel Barenboim lived with his parents who were piano teachers, each time someone rang at the door, it was for a piano lesson. "For a very long time, I thought everyone played the piano!" No, not everyone plays the piano, unfortunately, but he, Daniel, was to make his debut very young and give his first concert at the age of seven. His family came back to Europe in 1951 then settled in Israel and he performed in the prestigious concert halls of Vienna and Salzburg. The two people he met who were to have a Major influence on his musical career were the pianist Edwin Fischer with whom he studied and the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler who wrote him a letter of recommendation when he was eleven. Daniel Barenboim never chose between the two careers: he was to become a conductor and a pianist. This is rare, because by doing so he also takes on the often heavy responsibilities as a musical director: of the Paris Orchestra, of the Chicago Symphonic Orchestra, of the Berlin Staatsoper and, from 2000, of the Berlin Staaskapelle Orchestra to which he is appointed as musical director for life. Very much concerned about world affairs, in 1999 he founds with his friend Edward Saïd, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in which he brings together each season Israeli and Arab musicians. The orchestra, in residence in Andalusia, goes on tour each summer. The idea is to bring together through music young people who would never otherwise meet thus teaching them to speak and listen to one another. Daniel Baremboim is so committed to this idea that in 2008 he adopts Palestinian nationality, "We have the good or bad fortune of living together," he said of the Israelis and the Palestinians," I prefer the former to the latter." This musician who is a great humanist and a passionate lover of Beethoven has recorded the complete thirty-two Sonatas for Piano twice (EMI and Deutsche Grammophon) and several times the Five Concertos for Piano and Orchestra, once under the direction of Otto Klempere and another time as conductor and pianist with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Here he is again with Beethoven's concertos, in May 2007, at the Ruhr Piano Festival, conducting from the piano the Berlin Staaskapelle, one of the oldest orchestras in the world whose warm, dark sound perfectly matches the spirit of Beethoven. Barenboim is the only pianist today able to take up such a challenge: to conduct, while playing, five concertos. Composed between 1795 and 1808, they are the touchstones of all pianists, since Beethoven himself was an excellent pianist. Like the nine symphonies or the thirty-two sonatas, they form an essential planet in the composer's galaxy, the most famous star being of course "the emperor or concertos," the Fifth. But they all have their secret charms and beauty. "The Emperor of Concertos" or the Fifth Concerto Beethoven's last concerto is the emperor of concertos: written in 1809 while Vienna was bombarded then occupied by the French, the Concerto No.5 in E Flat Major Op.73 is dedicated, like the Fourth Concerto to the Archduke Rodolphe. Premiered at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig in 1811, it was deemed to be "original, full of imagination and impressive." As for being impressive, it has indeed, until today. Its title "The Emperor" wasn't chosen by Beethoven, it was the custom. Dazzling, full of intense exhilaration and at the same time mysterious and profound, the Emperor has conquered the whole world simply on the merit of its musical wealth.

Participant:

Daniel Barenboim, piano, conductor ; Staatskapelle Berlin.

Notes:

Recorded 2007 Klavierfestival Ruhr, Essen, Germany.

Vendor-supplied metadata.

Contains:

Container of: Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827. Concertos, piano, orchestra, no. 5, op. 73, E♭ major

OCLC:

956370567

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.