Home » Artists » Elgar: Symphony no. 1

Tour Dates

10/28/2019Auditorium De L'Orchestre National De Lyon / Lyon, France
10/30/2019Philharmonie de Paris / Paris, France
11/01/2019Philharmonie de Paris / Paris, France
11/02/2019Philharmonie de Paris / Paris, France
11/03/2019Philharmonie de Paris / Paris, France
11/11/2019Staatsoper unter den Linden / Berlin, Germany
11/12/2019Berlin Philharmonie / Berlin, Germany
11/24/2019Staatsoper unter den Linden / Berlin, Germany
11/27/2019Staatsoper unter den Linden / Berlin, Germany
11/30/2019Staatsoper unter den Linden / Berlin, Germany
12/01/2019Pierre-Boulez-Saal / Berlin, Germany
12/02/2019Pierre-Boulez-Saal / Berlin, Germany
12/04/2019Pierre-Boulez-Saal / Berlin, Germany
12/05/2019Pierre-Boulez-Saal / Berlin, Germany
12/11/2019Staatsoper unter den Linden / Berlin, Germany
12/14/2019Staatsoper unter den Linden / Berlin, Germany
12/16/2019Staatsoper unter den Linden / Berlin, Germany
12/17/2019Berlin Philharmonie / Berlin, Germany
12/20/2019Pierre-Boulez-Saal / Berlin, Germany
12/22/2019Pierre-Boulez-Saal / Berlin, Germany
12/23/2019Pierre-Boulez-Saal / Berlin, Germany
12/26/2019Pierre-Boulez-Saal / Berlin, Germany
12/29/2019Pierre-Boulez-Saal / Berlin, Germany
12/31/2019Staatsoper unter den Linden / Berlin, Germany
01/01/2020Staatsoper unter den Linden / Berlin, Germany
01/09/2020Philharmonie / Berlin, Germany
01/10/2020Philharmonie / Berlin, Germany
01/11/2020Philharmonie / Berlin, Germany
01/13/2020Historische Stadthalle / Wuppertal, Germany
01/15/2020Concert Hall / Andermatt, Switzerland
01/17/2020Philharmonie Gasteig / Munich, Germany
01/19/2020Philharmonie de Paris / Paris, France
01/21/2020Philharmonie de Paris / Paris, France
01/25/2020Grosses Festspielhaus / Salzburg, Austria
01/26/2020Staatsoper unter den Linden / Berlin, Germany
01/29/2020Staatsoper unter den Linden / Berlin, Germany
02/01/2020Grosses Festspielhaus / Salzburg, Austria
02/02/2020Staatsoper unter den Linden / Berlin, Germany
02/03/2020Philharmonie / Cologne, Germany
02/06/2020Staatsoper unter den Linden / Berlin, Germany
02/08/2020Pierre-Boulez-Saal / Berlin, Germany
02/13/2020Pierre-Boulez-Saal / Berlin, Germany
02/14/2020Staatsoper unter den Linden / Berlin, Germany
02/29/2020Pierre-Boulez-Saal / Berlin, Germany

Daniel Barenboim: Bio

The greatly talented Israeli pianist and conductor, Daniel Barenboim, was born in Argentina to parents of Jewish Russian descent. He started piano lessons at the age of five with his mother, continuing to study with his father who remained his only other teacher. In August 1950, when he was only seven years old, he gave his first official concert in Buenos Aires. Important influences in his development as a musician included Artur Rubinstein and Adolf Busch, both of whom performed in Argentina. The Barenboim family moved to Israel in 1952.

Two years later, in the summer of 1954, the parents brought their son to Salzburg to take part in Igor Markevitch's conducting classes. During that same summer he also met Wilhelm Furtwängler, played for him and attended some of the great conductor's rehearsals and a concert. Wilhelm Furtwängler subsequently wrote a letter including the words, "The eleven year-old Barenboim is a phenomenon …" that was to open many doors to Daniel Barenboim for a long time afterwards. In 1955 the young Daniel Barenboim studied harmony and composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

Daniel Barenboim made his debut as a pianist in Vienna and Rome in 1952, in Paris in 1955, in London in 1956 and in New York in 1957 with Leopold Stokowski conducting the Symphony of the Air. From then on, he made annual concert tours of the USA and Europe. He toured Australia in 1958 and soon became known as one of the most versatile pianists of his generation.

Daniel Barenboim made his first gramophone recordings in 1954 and soon began recording the most important works in the piano repertory, including complete cycles of the piano sonatas of W.A. Mozart and L.v. Beethoven and concertos by W.A. Mozart, L.v. Beethoven (with Otto Klemperer), Johannes Brahms (with John Barbirolli) and Béla Bartók (with Pierre Boulez).

During the same period, Daniel Barenboim began to devote more time to conducting. His close relationship with the English Chamber Orchestra, kindled in 1965, lasted over a decade, during which time they performed frequently in England, with Barenboim as both conductor and pianist, and made tours all over Europe, to the USA and Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Following his début as a conductor with the New Philharmonia Orchestra in London in 1967, Daniel Barenboim was in demand with all the leading European and American symphony orchestras. Between 1975 and 1989 he was Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris, his tenure marked by a commitment to contemporary music, with performances of works by Lutoslawski, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Henze, Henri Dutilleux, Takemitsu and others.

Daniel Barenboim has always been active as a chamber musician, performing with, among others, his late wife, cellist Jacqueline du Pré, as well as with Gregor Piatigorsky, Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman. He has also accompanied Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in lieder recitals.

Daniel Barenboim made his opera conducting début in 1973 with a performance of W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Edinburgh International Festival. He made his Bayreuth début in 1981 and has been a regular visitor there ever since, conducting Tristan und Isolde, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Parsifal and Die Meistersinger.

In 1991 Daniel Barenboim succeeded Sir Georg Solti as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with which he has since enjoyed countless successes in all the world's great concert halls. In 1992 he became General Music Director of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin. He currently holds both posts. He has also had a long and distinguished association with the Berliner Philharmoniker and maintains a close relationship as well with the Vienna Philharmonic, with which he toured the USA, Paris and London in 1997.

Daniel Barenboim is a prolific recording artist and has made recordings since 1954 for Westminster, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Philips, Sony Classical (CBS Masterworks), BMG, Erato Disques and Teldec. He now records exclusively for Teldec, which has issued solo recordings and albums in which he conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Berlin.

In addition, Daniel Barenboim's best selling recording of Argentinian tangos, Mi Buenos Aires Querido: Tangos Among Friends in collaboration with Rodolfo Mederos and Héctor Console was released in 1996 to great acclaim. His Tribute to Ellington with Diane Reeves, Don Byron and Chicago-based jazz musicians was released in autumn 1999 for the centenary of Ellington's birth. Summer 2000 sees the release of his latest crossover project; Brazilian Rhapsody, an album of Brazilian popular music arranged by Bebu Silvetti and featuring Daniel Barenboim with Brazilian music legends, Milton Nascimento and Cyro Baptista.

Musicians are by definition communicators. In their performances and with their unique interpretation of the music they convey the style and the meaning of a work to their audience. Daniel Barenboim's incisive intelligence, exceptional technique and meticulous musicianship have been at the core of many definitive performances and recordings as both pianist and conductor. He has also succeeded in building a variety of other bridges:

1) A Jew born during the Second World War - and an Israeli by nationality - he has worked closely over many years with three German orchestras - the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra - in an atmosphere of mutual affection and respect.

2) When it comes to music education Mr. Barenboim, himself the father of two teenaged boys, is keen to draw young people to music. He was closely involved in the planning of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's new interactive music learning center, ECHO, which opened in September 1998. ECHO is the first facility of its kind in the world that permits children of all ages to explore jazz, blues, gospel, rap, folk, pop and ethnic music – as well as classical – through interactive technology and special exhibits.

3) In the early 1990's, a chance meeting between Mr. Barenboim and the Palestinian-born writer and Columbia University professor Edward Saïd in a London hotel lobby led to an intensive friendship that has had both political and musical repercussions. These two men, who should have been poles apart politically, discovered in that first meeting, which lasted for hours, that they had similar visions of Israeli/Palestinian possible future co-operation.

They decided to continue their dialogue and to collaborate on musical events to further their shared vision of peaceful co-existence in the Middle East. This led to Mr. Barenboim's first concert on the West Bank, a piano recital atthe Palestinian Birzeit University in February 1999, and to a workshop for young musicians from the Middle East that took place in Weimar, Germany, in August 1999.

The West-Eastern Divan Weimar ‘99 Workshop took two years to organise and involved talented young musicians between the ages of 14 and 25 from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia and Israel. The idea was that they would come together to make music on neutral ground with the guidance of some of the world's best musicians. Weimar was chosen as the site for the workshop because of its rich cultural tradition of writers, poets, musicians and creative artists and because it is the 1999 European cultural capital. Daniel Barenboim wisely chose two concertmasters for the orchestra, an Israeli and a Lebanese. There were some tense moments among the young players at first but, coached by members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Berlin, and following master classes with the cellist Yo-Yo Ma and nightly cultural discussions with Saïd and Barenboim, the young musicians worked and played in increasing harmony.

4) Barenboim has reached out, both in relation to his audiences and to opening himself up to new musical experiences. He has programmed contemporary works alongside repertoire from the classical and romantic eras. He has also expanded his repertoire to include African American music, Argentinian tango, jazz and Brazilian music and shared these experiences with his audiences.

His 1995 performance and recording of Hannibal Lokumbe's African Portraits with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, gospel singer Jevetta Steele, blues singer David ‘Honeyboy' Edwards, the Hannibal Lokumbe Quartet and three African American choruses is one example. His recording of Argentinian tangos, Mi Buenos Aires Querido: Tangos Among Friends is another. Barenboim and his fellow musicians later performed this repertoire in several North American and European cities. Tribute to Ellington, his foray into jazz, and Brazilian Rhapsody further demonstrate Barenboim's inexhaustible musical curiosity and his conviction that music should bring people together.

In 2000 the music world celebrated the 50th anniversary of Daniel Barenboim's performance début with major musical events in Berlin, Chicago, New York - and on the actual anniversary, August 19 - Buenos Aires. Always looking to the future, the indefatigable musician has also recorded for release in his anniversary year his first L.v. Beethoven symphonies cycle, both for CD and the new DVD Audio technology. Also in 2000, the Staatskapelle Berlin elected Daniel Barenboim chief conductor for life.

1 Elgar: Symphony no. 1 / Andante. Nobilmente e semplice  
2 Elgar: Symphony no. 1 / Allegro molto  
3 Elgar: Symphony no. 1 / Adagio  
4 Elgar: Symphony no. 1 / Lento - Adagio  

Press Release
The Frost Interview - Daniel Barenboim: 'Spaces of dialogue'

Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin Record Elgar's Symphony no. 1 for Decca. For their second album featuring the music of Edward Elgar, Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin have recorded the composer's first symphony, following a recording of his second symphony two years ago. "I hold that the symphony without a program is the highest development of art." With these words, spoken in a University of Birmingham lecture in 1905, Elgar declared himself as belonging to the Brahmsian tradition of the abstract symphony, already thought moribund by many, rather than allying himself with Richard Strauss, the modern master of the symphonic poem.

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Stories

  • Daniel Barenboim: Beethoven's Complete Piano Sonatas is the work of a mature artist / Financial Times
    Posted At : November 6, 2020 12:00 AM

    Pensive playing touches hidden depths and stretches the music for expressive effect During the lockdown Daniel Barenboim said he had more time to play the piano than for 50 years. One of the outcomes is a new recording of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, plus the late Diabelli Variations, to mark the composer's 250th anniversary. This is music that has followed Barenboim throughout his long career. He played his first cycle of Beethoven's sonatas in public at the age of 16 and this is his fifth complete recording of them, each successive recording neatly documenting his thoughts about the music at different decades of his life. The new set is self-evidently the work of a mature and thoughtful artist. The playing is pensive, on the slow side, soft-edged, often short of Beethovenian fire. Where Igor Levit's recent recording drives forward breathlessly at white heat, Barenboim finds extraordinary amounts of elbow room, stretching the music this way and that for expressive effect.  EPA/Maurizio Gambarini READ THE FULL Financial Times REVIEW
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  • Elina Garanca and the illustrious Berlin Statskapelle under Daniel Barenboim gives a convincing and impressively idiomatic account of Elgar's Sea Pictures / LIMELIGHT
    Posted At : September 30, 2020 12:00 AM

    Globalisation has perhaps liberated some music from a national straight jacket: until recently Dame Janet Baker's recording of Elgar's Sea Pictures cast a seemingly endless shadow but Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča and the illustrious Berlin Statskapelle under Daniel Barenboim gives a convincing and impressively idiomatic account, considering that little of the poetry is top notch and the scansion would prove awkward for a Non-English speaker. Her diction isn't quite the equal of Dame Janet's in all these songs, especially the "bigger" Sabbath Morning at Sea and The Swimmer , but she makes more than decent fist of most of the music. She is best in the quiet first piece, Sea Slumber Song , both a lullaby and nocturne which, in the hands. SEE THE LIMELIGHT PAGE
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  • Whether from the piano stool or podium, Daniel Barenboim is a sympathetic and natural accompanist / THE CLASSIC REVIEW
    Posted At : September 7, 2020 12:00 AM

    This new album by Decca includes two pieces Barenboim has recorded before, as part of his Elgar series with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the mid to late 1970. In his older, impressive, and often overlooked version of "Sea Pictures" with the LPO, Yvonne Minto sang the Mezzo-Soprano role. In this newer Sea Pictures Barenboim is joined by mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča, conducting the Staatskapelle Berlin, as in his previous recordings for the current series, which included Symphonies 1 and 2, the Cello Concerto, and "The Dream Of Gerontius". Whether from the piano stool or podium, Barenboim is a sympathetic and natural accompanist. As in other recent Concerto releases, including with cellist Kian Soltani (reviewed here), the orchestral playing is carefully controlled, allowing soloist Elīna Garanča to shine. Barenboim refocuses and adjusts the orchestral details from his previous recording with Minton, giving Garanča a slightly different sound. The orchestral phrases are better understood and the articulation is more rounded, with commendable playing from Staatskapelle Berlin. These live Berlin recordings don't capture all the orchestral features in the same detail as neither of Barenboim's previous renditions. The bassoon, cello, and violin solos come across well in Falstaff, but the woodwind in Sea Pictures, especially in the denser passages, lack clear definition. Occasional audience intrusion in Falstaff is noticeable, but doesn't detract from this insightful and pleasing interpretation. READ THE FULL CLASSIC REVIEW
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  • Daniel Barenboim - Elgar 'Sea Pictures,' 'Falstaff' is a lovely performance / theartsdesk
    Posted At : August 1, 2020 12:00 AM

    It's to mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča's huge credit that I found myself listening to the texts Elgar set in his Sea Pictures more closely than usual. She's superb – rich-toned, and with excellent diction, her efforts highlighting my problem with this song cycle, namely that the poems set are a tad variable. "Where Corals Lie" and "Sea Slumber Song" work for me, but "The Swimmer" is too wordy by half. This is still a lovely performance, Daniel Barenboim's well-drilled Staatskapelle Berlin nail Elgar's style, the textures never too thick. All fine, though you really need this disc for Barenboim's Falstaff. This long, Straussian "symphonic study" was a flop when premiered in 1913, though Elgar claimed to have enjoyed writing it more than anything else he'd written. It's a grower, a piece that needs repeated hearings to work its magic. I'm always floored by the quirkiness of the opening theme, an earworm that's impossible to sing. Try it and see. Barenboim understands this music's subtlety and psychological depth, and his performance has both belly laughs and pathos. Falstaff's descent into sleep and the bittersweet "Dream Interlude" are sweetly done here, and Elgar's curt ending is painful but appropriate. It's played with real warmth and affection, the Berlin brass and winds especially impressive.  READ THE FULL artsdesk ARTICLE
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  • Who is Daniel Barenboim? / udiscovermusic.
    Posted At : July 31, 2020 12:00 AM

    Daniel Barenboim is one of the most famous classical musicians on the planet and one of the greatest artists of our time. As a pianist he is particularly admired for his interpretations of the works of Mozart and Beethoven. Since his conducting debut in 1967 he has been in great demand as a conductor with the world's leading orchestras. Daniel Barenboim was married to cellist Jacqueline du Pré and they became the music industry's golden couple. In 1999 he founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, with the academic Edward Said, which features Arab and Israeli musicians. Daniel Barenboim is currently music director of the Berlin Sate Opera and the Staatskapelle Berlin. Discover more about his life and music. Daniel Barenboim's latest release in his acclaimed Elgar series is Elgar's Sea Pictures and Falstaff. READ THE FULL udiscovermusic. PIECE
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  • Daniel Barenboim - Elgar 'Sea Pictures,' 'Falstaff' is the WFMT: Featured New Release
    Posted At : July 30, 2020 12:00 AM

    Daniel Barenboim and Decca Classics continue their acclaimed Elgar series, recording Sea Pictures again after four decades and paired with the symphonic poem Falstaff. Recorded live in the winter of 2019, the album features the Berlin Staatskapelle and mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča in her first recording of Sea Pictures. For July 30 2020, Daniel Barenboim Elgar -Sea Pictures, Falstaff is the WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release'
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  • Barenboim and Elgar. A musical love story continues / The New York Times
    Posted At : July 24, 2020 12:00 AM

    In recent years, the conductor Daniel Barenboim and his Staatskapelle Berlin have released a series of recordings of works by Edward Elgar. A fifth album in Daniel Barenboim's Elgar cycle with the Staatskapelle Berlin comes out today Friday   Outside England, the music of Elgar (1857-1934) still has a crusty, flag-waving reputation, despite the efforts of musicologists and the advocacy of musicians. But over the past eight years, Mr. Barenboim, 77, and his Staatskapelle Berlin have released accounts of Elgar's two symphonies, the oratorio "The Dream of Gerontius" and the Cello Concerto, with Alisa Weilerstein. It's a connection of long standing: Mr. Barenboim's first wife, the cellist Jacqueline du Pré, collaborated with the conductor John Barbirolli on a classic recording of the Cello Concerto in 1965, and she and Barbirolli in turn inspired the young Argentine-born Mr. Barenboim to learn and record much of Elgar's work with the London Philharmonic. A fifth album in the Berlin cycle is coming out on Friday, featuring "Sea Pictures" (five songs, sung by Elina Garanca) and "Falstaff," an ambitious, often rambunctious symphonic poem. Mr. Barenboim, whose contract with the Staatskapelle and the Berlin State Opera was extended last year amid accusations of bullying, spoke by phone from Spain about Elgar and his music. These are edited excerpts from the conversation. Why do you love this music so much? It's a difficult question to answer, because one has to admit that, historically, Elgar is not so important. If Elgar had not come through this earth, the development of music would have been the same. One also has to forget that he was somewhat anachronistic, when you think what else was being written at the time - Schoenberg, Stravinsky, etc. The music of Elgar (1857-1934) still has a crusty, flag-waving reputation, despite the efforts of musicologists and the advocacy of musicians.Credit...Central Press/Getty Images But there is a unique quality in his music which appeals to me tremendously: something emotional, in the best sense of the word. Not outward, but something very, very deep and sincere, which has to do, I suppose, with the modulations - with the harmonic language, which is unlike that of many other composers. The closest is Strauss. Should we then think of Elgar not as a radical, like Schoenberg or Stravinsky, but as a progressive, like Strauss or Mahler? I think so. "Falstaff" is a special work in Elgar's output. It has things that connect it to his symphonies, but if the symphonies are close to Strauss's "Don Juan" and "Ein Heldenleben," "Falstaff" is close to "Till Eulenspiegel." Even in England, "Falstaff" is not that often played compared with some of Elgar's works, and if music lovers know the "Falstaff" story, it's primarily through Verdi. Verdi, of course. But you know, I take very slight objection to the fact that Elgar's nationality is always mentioned in relation to his music, as if it was not to be expected that one could be English and be a great composer. Nobody talks about the nationality of other composers as much as they talk about Elgar being English; of course, there is a certain Englishness about it, but it's not the most important element. What is the most important element? The harmonic language, the orchestration, is remarkable, if the conductor balances the orchestra properly and the orchestra has familiarity with the music, which is very rarely the case, because Elgar is not played that often. The English saying "familiarity breeds contempt" is totally out of place; we forget that orchestras and publics alike need familiarity with music in order to love it. One of the things that you seem to be saying is that Elgar was part of a European - not just an English - tradition. This is a very dangerous statement you are making now in view of Brexit, of course. I think he is very much a European composer, don't you? Absolutely. Wasn't that the point you were trying to make when you played his "Land of Hope and Glory" at the BBC Proms with the Staatskapelle, the year after the Brexit vote? "Land of Hope and Glory" at the Proms had nothing to do with a political thing; it was totally misinterpreted. We played both symphonies at the Proms, and I wanted to show that you don't have to be English to play this music well. I am a firm believer in the European idea, and I am a firm believer that a lot of the problem with the European Union is that many people forget that it was not only a financial or economic idea. Let us not forget that whether it is France, Germany, Italy, England or Spain, culture is the greatest contribution, historically, of the continent. It is a different contribution from the other continents, and therefore culture - European culture - is a very important point for today's world, too. That raises the issue that Elgar is usually thought of as a quintessentially English composer because of his association with the British Empire. Yes, but do you think that Elgar's connection to the English part of it is more important than, shall we say, Debussy's to France? No. But as someone who loves Elgar's music, I still have trouble with it historically, as I love and still have trouble with Wagner's music. Yes, but your problem with Wagner's music, I imagine, has to do with his profile as a person, as a human being, which is not the case with Elgar. Elgar still wrote works like "The Crown of India" and the "Imperial March," though. So how do you think about performing him today, during a global reckoning with racism, slavery and empire? Should we ignore that part of Elgar? Should we confront it? No, I think we have to place it in context. Let's be a little bit more neutral in our remarks. We realized a long time ago that slavery was a horrific thing, and we did away with it, but at the time that it was there, it was there. The English Empire quality is only a part of some moments of Elgar's pieces. Let's not dwell on the "Pomp and Circumstance Marches," because that's a "pièce d'occasion," like the ballet in "Aida," but in the serious works - "The Dream of Gerontius," the symphonies, "Falstaff," the Cello Concerto, the "Sea Pictures" - that element is only a part of it. So we can play him today by accepting that part and moving on? Is that what you are saying? Yes, I don't think we have to play Elgar and pay special attention, as it were, not to forget that there was a British Empire and that that was the expression of it. That is part of the whole. Are there particular moments of "Falstaff" that you think show Elgar at his best? The interlude in the center, the small interlude with the violin solo, is very touching, because it is juxtaposed against very rhythmical, boisterous music. And of course the end. Falstaff's death is an absolute masterpiece of composition. Elgar had a gift for endings, like the end of the Second Symphony. Yes, and they are very difficult to conduct. If you look at the score of the end of "Falstaff," it is so constructed - I wouldn't say calculated, because that smells of something not natural. Then, when it's finished, it's finished; it doesn't end on a sentimental note. He dies, and then there is a very little coda, which seems to say death is part of life. And that's it. PHOTO Credit...Odd Andersen/Agence France-Presse, via Getty Images
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  • After 12 years, a Chicago homecoming for Daniel Barenboim / WTTW
    Posted At : November 1, 2018 12:00 AM

    It has been 12 years since conductor Daniel Barenboim last stepped onto the podium at Symphony Center to lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. And the orchestra's mighty massing of stellar musicians has shifted considerably since he served as its music director from 1991 to 2006. But on Monday, at an intimate press conference celebrating his return visit to the city, Barenboim expressed his delight at what will be a two-part homecoming. First, he will stand in front of the CSO again for three performances (Nov. 1, 2 and 3) of "Ma Vlast" ("My Homeland"), a collection of six symphonic poems by the 19th century Czech composer Bedrich Smetana that evoke the history, legends and landscape of Bohemia. "I chose that work for three reasons," said Barenboim, who will be celebrating his 75th birthday on Nov. 15. "First, I love it. Second, I grew up listening to a CSO recording of it from the early 1950s, which was conducted by Rafael Kubelik [music director of the CSO from 1950 to 1953], and I even found a video of him conducting part of the work on YouTube. Finally, I wanted to conduct a work I had never done in all my 36-year-long association with the CSO, and that was not easy to do." p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL WTTW: Chicago ARTICLE
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  • Daniel Barenboim, Berlin Staatskapelle - Brahms Symphonies is WRTI: Classical Album of the Week
    Posted At : September 17, 2018 12:00 AM

    In the United States, Daniel Barenboim's name is closely associated with the Chicago Symphony, where he was music director from 1991-2006, and with whom he recorded the Brahms Symphonies in 2000. Since 1992 he has been music director of the nearly 450-year-old Staatskapelle Berlin, an orchestra which remains less well-known than the Berlin Philharmonic, due in part to its location in the former East Berlin and less relative exposure under decades of Communist rule. For over a quarter-century Barenboim has consistently raised the international profile of the historic German ensemble, which is also the official orchestra of the Berlin State Opera, through touring and recordings of both orchestral and operatic repertoire. Their latest offering continues that mission. Newly released by Deutsche Grammophon, Daniel Barenboim's interpretation of Johannes Brahms' four symphonies with the Staatskapelle Berlin is the WRTI: Philadelphia - 'Classical Album of the Week.'  SEE THE PAGE
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  • Daniel Barenboim, Berlin Staatskapelle - Brahms Symphonies is KDFC: Album Of the Week
    Posted At : September 9, 2018 12:00 AM

    Conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim is one of the lions of classical music in our time, and a new recording from him is always an occasion of note. Barenboim first recorded all four of the Brahms Symphonies in 1993 with the Chicago Symphony. Now he has released another set of the Brahms, conducting the Berlin State Orchestra. Significantly, this is the first recording from Berlin's Pierre Boulez Saal, named for the late, renowned French composer and conductor, and dear friend of Barenboim. We'll be featuring this new set on the air this week on KDFC. For the Week of September 10th, the Berlin State Orchestra led by Daniel Barenboim - Brahms: The Symphonies is the KDFC: San Francisco 'Album Of the Week.'
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  • Daniel Barenboim, Berlin Staatskapelle - Brahms Symphonies is KUSC: Album Of the Week
    Posted At : September 9, 2018 12:00 AM

    Conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim is one of the lions of classical music in our time, and a new recording from him is always an occasion of note. Barenboim first recorded all four of the Brahms Symphonies in 1993 with the Chicago Symphony. Now he has released another set of the Brahms, conducting the Berlin State Orchestra. Significantly, this is the first recording from Berlin's Pierre Boulez Saal, named for the late, renowned French composer and conductor, and dear friend of Barenboim. We'll be featuring this new set on the air this week on KUSC. For the Week of September 10th, the Berlin State Orchestra led by Daniel Barenboim - Brahms: The Symphonies is the KUSC: Los Angeles 'Album Of the Week.'
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  • Daniel Barenboim Brahms Symphonies is CLASSIC fM: Drive Discovery
    Posted At : August 23, 2018 12:00 AM

    Throughout the week Classic FM's presenters bring you the best new recordings, including world exclusives and premiere broadcasts of latest releases. This week, John Brunning's Drive Discovery features; Daniel Barenboim - Brahms Symphonies on Deutsche Grammophon. Another returning legend tackling repertoire that defined an entire career: this time, the great conductor, pianist and educator Daniel Barenboim. Comparing his earlier recordings of these same notorious symphonies, it's clear to see Barenboim's maturation as a musical force. SEE THE FULL CLASSIC fM PAGE
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  • Daniel Barenboim leading Berlin Staatskapelle in Brahms Symphonies is WFMT: Featured New Release
    Posted At : August 16, 2018 12:00 AM

    The first orchestral recording from Berlin's Pierre Boulez Saal, ‘Brahms: The Symphonies' is a four-CD set featuring Boulez's beloved friend and colleague Daniel Barenboim conducting the Berlin Staatskapelle in all four symphonic masterpieces from the great Romantic composer. "Daniel Barenboim no longer needs to assert himself. To my mind, this is virtually an ideal prerequisite for interpreting Brahms's symphonies, along with his vast musical experience, his instinct, and his ability to shape a symphonic process as organic growth, the ongoing emergence of a capacious whole." (Jörg Widmann) Daniel Barenboim leading Berlin Staatskapelle in Brahms Symphonies is WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release' p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}
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  • Daniel Barenboim - Debussy is WFMT 'Featured New Release'
    Posted At : March 7, 2018 12:00 AM

    Daniel Barenboim celebrates the legacy of Claude Debussy, whom he extols as "the artist of illusion," with his first album devoted to the composer's piano music. His interpretations are enriched by a profound knowledge of Debussy's orchestral works, which Barenboim explored intensively as principal conductor of the Paris Orchestra. Here, using wholly pianistic means, he creates an imaginary orchestra with the subtle colors of pieces including Estampes and Book I of the Preludes. Barenboim says, "Without Debussy, the 20th century could not exist." For March 6, 2018, Daniel Barenboim: Debussy is WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release' p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}
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  • CLASSIC fM celebrates Daniel Barenboim's 75th birthday with full day of programming & 46-CD box-set giveaway
    Posted At : November 15, 2017 12:00 AM

    15th November 2017 marks a significant day in the classical music calendar – it's the 75th birthday of one of the world's most respected and prolific musicians: Daniel Barenboim. To mark the birthday of the great conductor and pianist, CLASSIC fM is celebrating with a whole day of music and special shows! And we're giving you the chance to win a 46-CD box-set of his recordings

    CLICK HERE TO ENTER    p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}
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  • WWFM - Between the Keys celebrates Daniel Barenboim's 75th birthday
    Posted At : November 14, 2017 12:00 AM

    Between the Keys celebrates Daniel Barenboim's 75th birthday with his rare Deutsche Grammophon recording of Franz Liszt's monumental Piano Sonata in B Minor, plus other works. Join Jed Distler, Artist in Residence for The Classical Network TODAY!! Tuesday November 14th at 10:00 PM for Between the Keys, with a rebroadcast Monday afternoon November 20th at 3:00 PM. Between the Keys may or may not begin at the piano but will always find Jed taking the listener on a creative, imaginative and unique musical journey as only someone of his experience could present. Between the Keys is supported by Steinway and Sons. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px} p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial}
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  • Daniel Barenboim visits West Bank for first time in nearly a decade / BBC News
    Posted At : June 13, 2017 12:00 AM

    Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim, has been visiting the West Bank for the first time in nearly a decade - to work with young Palestinian musicians. He has been a strong opponent of Israel's occupation of land that the Palestinians want for their future state, saying his visit was timed to remember the 50th anniversary of the 1967 war - when Israel captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. The maestro, who also has Palestinian citizenship, speaks to the BBC. WATCH THE VIDEO READ The Wire p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial}
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  • Daniel Barenboim launches 'Parallels & Paradoxes' / Pizzicato
    Posted At : June 9, 2017 12:00 AM

    Conductor Daniel Barenboim (74) has started a series of YouTube discussions, Parallels & Paradoxes, which brings him face to face with a grand variety of representatives from different disciplines of art. « Through debating a wide range of topics and diving deep into an interdisciplinary discourse, multiple parallels and paradoxes between arts, philosophical standpoints and the understanding of music, are elaborated », a communication text says. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} In part 1 of Parallels & Paradoxes, Daniel Barenboim and actor Christoph Waltz discuss similarities and differences between music and drama referring to fidelity to a text.    WATCH VIDEO ON Pizzicato
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  • Daniel Barenboim, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra - Hommage A Boulez / theguardian review
    Posted At : March 17, 2017 12:00 AM

    Since Pierre Boulez's death at the beginning of 2016, Daniel Barenboim's tribute to his friend and musical collaborator for more than half a century has been heartfelt and wide-ranging. Two weeks ago, the Pierre Boulez Saal, the chamber-music hall designed by Frank Gehry for the Barenboim-Said Akademie, was inaugurated in Berlin, with the first concert by the newly formed Boulez Ensemble, and this album of Boulez's music has been released to coincide with the opening. The three works on the first disc – dominated by a fabulously lucid account of the tangled, challenging Dérive 2, for 11 instruments – are from the 2012 Proms in London, while the second disc includes recordings from the Berlin Staatsoper in 2010. There's Messagesquisses, for solo cello and six other cellos, and Anthèmes 2 for violin and live electronics, played by Michael Barenboim, thus echoing his recent solo disc, but the main work is Le Marteau Sans Maître, conducted by Boulez himself with Hilary Summers as the contralto soloist. By my reckoning, this is Boulez's fifth recording of the work that defines his own music better than any other; it's perhaps more expressively flexible than earlier ones, but just as precise, and Summers makes a compelling soloist. p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px} SEE THE guardian PAGE 
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  • Daniel Barenboim and friends on working with Pierre Boulez / Gramophone
    Posted At : March 11, 2017 12:00 AM

    Daniel Barenboim's YouTube channel is well worth a visit, as it contains some fascinating insights from one of the most experienced and highly-regarded musicians of our time. In his latest video, Barenboim dicusses what it was like to work with Pierre Boulez with two members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Jussef Eisa and Michael Barenboim. Enjoy the video below: Barenboim's latest album for DG, 'Hommage à Boulez', features live recordings of key Boulez orchestral works conducted by Barenboim, including Dérive II, Dialogue de L'Ombre Double, Mémoriale, Le Marteau sans maître, Anthèmes 2 and Messagesquisse.  WATCH THE VIDEO via Gramophone  p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}
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  • Pierre Boulez Saal - opening concert: a sensual listening experience / Financial Times
    Posted At : March 7, 2017 12:00 AM

    Daniel Barenboim showcased Boulez's ferociously complex music and Gehry's new concert hall as The Boulez Ensemble performed on the opening night of the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin.  Barenboim has an agenda. More than 600 invited guests, among them the German president Joachim Gauck, finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble, and mayor Michael Müller, gathered to hear him open his new chamber music hall last weekend in Berlin. Instead of serving them easy listening, Barenboim bookended a knotty three-and-half-hour programme with complex works by Pierre Boulez (1925-2016), for whom the hall is named.  Photo: Peter Adamik READ THE FULL Financial Times ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica} span.s1 {text-decoration: underline} span.Apple-tab-span {white-space:pre}
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  • Berlin's new 'Pierre Boulez Saal' thrills / Los Angeles Times
    Posted At : March 6, 2017 12:00 AM

    The German city of Hamburg has become a media darling with its awesome Elbphilharmonie, a new concert hall that stands taller, cost more and is more gawk-able than any other. Berlin, however, now has the exact opposite in the graceful, airy, idealistic Pierre Boulez Saal, which opened here Saturday night. Rather than stand tall, it stands for something. Pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim conceived his seemingly modest 683-seat hall as part of the new Barenboim-Said Academy, where young Arab and Israeli musicians train together so that they might someday learn to work together. And the new hall is a place for music to visibly - and audibly! - make a powerfully public cultural statement. To that end, the Walt Disney Concert Hall team of architect Frank Gehry and acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota designed the oval-shaped room primarily with music in mind. And serve music Boulez Hall surely could Saturday in an uncompromising 3½-hour program of works progressing historically from Mozart to Boulez and beyond, grippingly played by Barenboim's new Boulez Ensemble.  PHOTO: (Maurizio Gambarini / Associated Press) READ THE FULL Los Angeles Times ARTICLE p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}
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  • Frank Gehry and Daniel Barenboim on their new concert hall in Berlin / New York Times
    Posted At : March 4, 2017 12:00 AM

    It started with the scribble of an oval. Several years ago the architect Frank Gehry, known to begin his building projects with expressive and curvy sketches, drew the crude shape for Daniel Barenboim, the conductor and pianist who had enlisted him to design a new chamber music hall here. Mr. Gehry forgot the drawing, he recalled during an interview with Mr. Barenboim at the completed concert hall, named the Pierre Boulez Saal, after the revolutionary composer and conductor who died last year at 90. It opens on Saturday with a sprawling three-hour concert by the Boulez Ensemble that spans musical history from Mozart to Mr. Boulez himself. Instead, when Mr. Gehry presented his first model to Mr. Barenboim, the hall had a conventional look: an orchestra on risers facing an auditorium. "He looked at me and said, ‘But Frank, this is so disappointing.'" Mr. Gehry said. "‘What happened to that sketch you gave me?'" So Mr. Gehry, who designed the Cubist-like Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, returned to the oval shape, which in its finished form also fulfills a wish of Boulez's to create a "salle modulable," a modular 360-degree space in which the performers and audience (as many as 682 listeners here) can be reconfigured without compromising acoustics. The oval, it turns out, is also a convenient symbol for the theme of unity that pervades the hall.  PHOTO: Thomas Rosenthal READ THE FULL New York Times ARTICLE READ DW REVIEW READ LA Times ARTICLE p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}
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  • Daniel Barenboim - Sticking With It / Wisconsin Public Radio
    Posted At : February 19, 2017 12:00 AM

    At the age of twelve, Daniel Barenboim was a poised, accomplished pianist with three years of major concerts to his credit. In the summer of 1955, he was taking a conducting class at the Salzburg Mozarteum. The school had brought in a series of guest teachers, conductors who were working at the Salzburg Festival, each of whom would instruct the class for a day. Among the guest teachers was the formidable George Szell, longtime conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, who had been given credit for building it into what one critic called "the world's keenest symphonic instrument." Young Barenboim had met Szell a year earlier, auditioning successfully for him as a pianist. But now the boy was on the spot. On the day that the stern and strict Szell was to teach the class, it was Barenboim's turn to conduct. Bravely, he began to lead the orchestra. Very quickly, the whole performance fell apart. With pointed words, Szell advised Barenboim to stick with the piano and become a serious musician. p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px} But Barenboim stuck with conducting, and, thirteen years later, as he was to lead the London Symphony in Carnegie Hall, he was told that Szell was in the audience. The strict lesson for a twelve-year-old paid off. Szell, who was now its Music Advisor, invited Barenboim to become the ongoing conductor of the New York Philharmonic. SEE THE Wisconsin Public Radio PAGE
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  • Barenboim is brilliant leading the Staatskapelle Berlin in Bruckner and Mozart / Huffington Post review
    Posted At : February 4, 2017 12:00 AM

    Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin are performing all nine Bruckner symphonies over the course of nine evenings at Carnegie Hall, coupling each symphony with a Mozart piano concerto, led by Barenboim from the piano. Night six (January 25) of this historic Bruckner cycle-unprecedented in this country-meant Symphony No. 6 in A major, plus Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major. READ THE FULL Huffington Post REVIEW
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  • Barenboim is a Bruckner Guy / The New Yorker
    Posted At : February 3, 2017 12:00 AM

    While I didn't have the privilege of lounging in a cigar bar with the celebrated conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim, I did have the pleasure of attending three concerts of his cycle of Bruckner Symphonies at Carnegie Hall with the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra, which closed on Sunday afternoon-the first complete cycle ever presented there. For an accurate overview, I decided to take in three of the nine symphonies, each of a different type: a sleeper (the Third), a problem child (the Fifth), and a universal favorite (the Seventh). p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px} Attentive listeners like to dialogue about Bruckner these days, chewing on either the problematic aspects of the music itself or on the unpleasant associations with German nationalism that accrued to the music, even during the composer's own lifetime. But not Daniel Barenboim. This is because Barenboim is a Bruckner Guy, and his devotion has been lifelong.  READ THE FULL The New Yorker ARTICLE
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  • The Barenboim piano unveiled / Musical Toronto
    Posted At : January 30, 2017 12:00 AM

    Steinway instruments, which have been the gold standard in pianos for a very long time and are nearly always the first choice of concert artists, have proven to be nearly ideal for repertoire from Bach to Elliot Carter. Daniel Barenboim was one of those artists, until he had the opportunity in 2011 to play an instrument originally owned by Franz Liszt. Struck by the "transparent sound quality and distinguishable colour registers" of this 200-year-old instrument, Barenboim asked the Steinway engineers if they could duplicate these qualities on a modern instrument; they confessed that they could not. That sent Barenboim to the instrument maker Chris Maene in West Flanders (Belgium). After several years of development, Maene came up with exactly what Barenboim was looking for and on this new CD we can hear the instrument that so excited Barenboim. READ THE FULL Musical Toronto ARTICLE  &  WATCH THE BBC Video p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}
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  • Daniel Barenboim on how to enjoy Bruckner / Playbill Q&A
    Posted At : January 26, 2017 12:00 AM

    Anton Bruckner's symphonies thunder with apocalyptic power, weep with unaffected grief, dance with earthy country humor, and astonish with their sheer magnificence of sound. In a once-in-a-lifetime concert experience, Daniel Barenboim-one of the great Bruckner conductors of our time-returns to Carnegie Hall after a four-year absence to lead the Staatskapelle Berlin in the numbered symphonies of the revered Austrian master. In a recent conversation, Barenboim reflected on his first exposure to Bruckner's works and why they have since become highlights of his repertoire.     PHOTO: Holger Kettner READ THE Playbill Q&A WATCH Carnegie Hall Concert via medici
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  • Daniel Barenboim's New York Anniversary / The New Yorker
    Posted At : January 24, 2017 12:00 AM

    Daniel Barenboim, the matchless Argentine-Israeli pianist (his two Mozart-concerto cycles remain references), conductor, activist (the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which he founded with the late Edward Said, bringing together Israeli and Palestinian musicians, is now in its seventeenth year), and general bon vivant (his taste for cigars led him to meet with a reporter at a cigar club opposite Carnegie Hall), came to town last week, for the sixtieth anniversary of his first appearance in New York City. Since he was only fourteen then, this dates him less than it might seem. "Of course, I remember every moment of it," he said, sipping pineapple juice in the cigar club. He had politely declined a smoke after contemplating the club's menu, still lamentably short on Cubans. ("Itzhak Perlman," he said, "used to buy Cubans in Toronto and bring them to me in his crutches.") READ THE FULL New Yorker ARTICLE p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}
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  • Daniel Barenboim comes back to Buenos Aires / the bubble
    Posted At : July 28, 2016 12:00 AM

    Daniel Barenboim is kind of a big deal. The child piano prodigy turned international conducting superstar was born right here in Buenos Aires, and will be presenting his latest project at the Teatro Colón through August 6th. The Festival Barenboim de música y reflexión is a collaboration between the conductor, classical music legends like Martha Argerich and Jonas Kaufmann, and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. If you've never heard of this particular orchestra, it's high-time you checked them out. Established by the conductor himself as a workshop for Israeli, Palestinian and other musicians in the area to come together with the same musical goal, to create a project bursting with the idea of harmony and collaboration in a time when the world is crying out for it. READ THE FULL FULL bubble ARTICLE
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  • 6 Performers using music to make the world a better place / WQXR Radio
    Posted At : July 13, 2016 12:00 AM

    As a reprieve from the tragic events and polarized politics filling up the current news cycle, here is a list of classical musicians and organizations that that WQXR Radio - New York has selected which actively works to improve the lives of people and their habitats around the globe. Two of the artists are promoted by Crossover Media - Daniel Barenboim & Hélène Grimaud. Building on the successes of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which invites young musicians from Israel, Palestine and other Arab nations to play together, Daniel Barenboim has announced the creation of a new Berlin-based academy for Arabic musicians. Named the Barenboim-Said Academy - invoking the name of the late Edward Said, who co-founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with Barenboim in 1999 - it will provide music instruction as well as foster cross-cultural dialogues. It opens this fall. In 1999, French pianist Hélène Grimaud founded the Westchester-based Wolf Conservation Center to promote education and protect the future of these often misunderstood canids. In particular, the organization is committed to safeguarding two endangered species: the Mexican grey wolf and the red wolf. SEE THE FULL WQXR PAGE
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  • Daniel Barenboim - Elgar Sym #1 / New York Times review
    Posted At : May 7, 2016 12:00 AM

    Daniel Barenboim's recording of Elgar's Second Symphony may have made my best-of list in 2014, but the First suits his conducting even more. His sense of architecture is imperious, hiding moments that surprise, even disconcert: Take the little snaps of arrogance in the scherzo, or the way the harp-blessed beauty at the finale's core blushes as it arrives, as if trying to remember how to be grand. Yet Mr. Barenboim never lets you forget that Elgar's was a world riven with unease, just like Mahler's: Rhythms that aren't quite drilled are often forced to attention; the first movement is deliberately choppy; even the triumphant coda seems shy. Let's hope that these forces have "The Dream of Gerontius" in their sights.  Daniel Barenboim's Elgar: Symphony No. 1 - Staatskapelle Berlin; Daniel Barenboim, conductor (Decca). REVIEW BY DAVID ALLEN SEE THE New York Times PAGE
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  • Daniel Barenboim - Elgar: Symphony No 1 / WFMT: Featured Release Of the Week
    Posted At : March 27, 2016 12:00 AM

    For their second album featuring the music of Sir Edward Elgar, Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Staatskapelle have recorded the composer's First Symphony, following a recording of his Second Symphony two years ago. Barenboim is a passionate Elgarian: as a young man he worked regularly with Sir John Barbirolli, one of the greatest of all Elgar conductors.

    Elgar: Symphony No 1 in A-flat major, Op 55: I, Allegro (19:57) from Elgar: Symphony No 1 on Decca is a WFMT: Chicago - Featured Release for the week of 3/24/2016. Features - Berlin Staatskapelle / Daniel Barenboim
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