Happy Birthday Daniel Barenboim!

[Guest]

It's his 70th! As some of you may know I am in the process of listening to and blogging about every piece of music in the June 2012 edition of Gramophone. Which has me bogged down, in the nicest possible way, in the 17cds of Jacqueline du Pre's complete EMI recordings. Most of them feature DB, and good lord he's good. Dunno if I'm much chop as a writer, but here's the best I can do about those two crazy kids...

http://www.peter-salmon.co.uk/petersalmon/2012/09/wheels-of-cheese-15-sex/

[Stanfordian]

Yes indeed, a happy birthday to Maestro Barenboim. Sadly I have not seen him play as a piano soloist but last May I attended one of his concerts in Dresden. He was conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in the last three symphonies of Mozart. It was a quite incredible experience and Barenboim certainly has that special charisma that only a few musicians have; I'm thinking of Karajan, Bernstein, Previn for example.

[ahinton]

Yes indeed, a happy birthday to Maestro Barenboim. Sadly I have not seen him play as a piano soloist

A very happy birthday indeed! Although I was not present (sadly), he premièred Elliott Carter's Dialogues II just 21 days ago, 11 days before the composer's untimely death, in La Scala, Milan with the Orchestra of La Scala conducted by Gustavo Dudamel; of this little 5 minute piece (lightly scored for single woodwind, two horns, trumpet, trombone and strings) which is, I think, his penultimate work, the composer wrote on June 29, 2012 (presumably hot on the heels of completing it):
"The dynamo of enthusiasm that propels his extraordinary musical skills - performing, conducting and imagining new ideas and his views on many varied conceptions (-) make Daniel a model and an exciting stimulus for us all. I hope a little of that reveals itself in this 70th birthday present".

[amateur51]

A birthday greeting from Sir Simon Rattle, "the Philharmonic Family" and Sir Willard White -

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2012/11/simon-rattle-sends-a-birthday-videogram-to-daniel-barenboim.html

I never knew Sir Willard had such a gloriously deep speaking voice - surely he deserves a Saturday/Sunday afternoon programe of his own where he just reads out a telephone directory to lull us all into a post-lunch snooze

[Richard Tarleton]

I listened over the weekend to two fine Barenboim recitals shown on Sky Arts 2 for DB's 70th - a 2010 all-Chopin recital from Warsaw, and an apparently recent recital of Russian song with Anna Netrebko from the Philharmonie in Berlin.

[Thropplenoggin]

How is this post not considered spam? By which I mean, a tenuous link in order to get people to click through to someone's personal website.

[Paul Sherratt]

Because it's cheese ?

[ahinton]

He's a remarkable artist whose conducting repertoire is studded with successes in Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven through Bruckner, Mahler, Busoni and Schönberg to Carter, Dutilleux and other contemporary and living composers, whose success with the West-East Divan Orchestra speaks for itself and a tireless and courageous ambassador for world peace - and I've not even mentioned his piano playing yet!...

[ahinton]

How is this post not considered spam? By which I mean, a tenuous link in order to get people to click through to someone's personal website.

Sorry; which particular post are you referring to?

[Thropplenoggin]

Sorry; which particular post are you referring to?

The entire thread. It's designed solely to get you to go to someone's personal website.

[Richard Tarleton]

The entire thread. It's designed solely to get you to go to someone's personal website.

Thropple I think this conversation was had when Mr Wheels first appeared, here...

[Thropplenoggin]

Thropple I think this conversation was had when Mr Wheels first appeared, here...

Thanks, Richard. It's a bit rich to keep doing it though, eh?

Those curious about 'perfumed tinctures most severe o'the nose', apply within.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I never knew Sir Willard had such a gloriously deep speaking voice - surely he deserves a Saturday/Sunday afternoon programe of his own where he just reads out a telephone directory to lull us all into a post-lunch snooze

I recommend this, ami:

http://www.bardolatry.com/2009/02/02/othello-1989-directed-by-trevor-nunn/

[amateur51]

I recommend this, ami:

http://www.bardolatry.com/2009/02/02...y-trevor-nunn/

Many thanks, ferney - I'll try to get hold of it

Adrian Lester is currently at The Tricycle Kilburn in Red Velvet, a tremendous play about a real-life African-American dramatic actor called Ira Aldridge taking over the role of Othello from Edmund Keane who has just collapsed in the part on-stage and what happens to his career thereafter. Lester is magnificent in the role and he is going to play Shakespeare's Othello in a production at the Royal National Theatre next year.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I never knew Sir Willard had such a gloriously deep speaking voice - surely he deserves a Saturday/Sunday afternoon programe of his own where he just reads out a telephone directory to lull us all into a post-lunch snooze

A wonderful speaking voice! Trevor Nunn cast him as Othello in a production with Imogen Stubbs and Ian McKellan which, I believe, is preserved on DVD somewhere.