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CHRISTMAS IN AMSTERDAM WITH BRAHMS
December 2004 |
Daniel Barenboim spent December 25th
in Amsterdam, performing Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1 with
the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons.
The concert was broadcast live on AVRO television.
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DANIEL BARENBOIM LEADS BERLIN
PHILHARMONIC IN MOZART AND FURTWäNGLER PROGRAM
December 2004 |
On three consecutive evenings, December
16th, 17th and 18th, Daniel Barenboim led the Berlin
Philharmonic in performances of Mozart's Piano Concerto No.
25 K503, which he led from the piano, and Wilhelm Furtwängler's
Symphony No. 2 in E minor, commemorating the 50th anniversary
of the conductor/composer's death. Elisabeth Furtwängler,
his widow, attended the concerts.
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STAATSKAPELLE BERLIN PERFORMS
WORKS BY BOULEZ, MENDELSSOHN AND SCHÖNBERG
December 2004 |
On December 8th at Berlin's Philharmonie
and the following evening at the Konzerthaus, Daniel Barenboim
conducted the Staatskapelle Berlin in a program consisting of
Boulez's Notations I-IV, Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1,
with Lang Lang as the soloist, and Schönberg's Verklärte
Nacht.
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STAATSOPER BERLIN PREMIERES NEW
PRODUCTION OF BIZET's CARMEN
December 2004 |
Daniel Barenboim conducted the premiere
of Martin Kušej's new production of Bizet's Carmen
at the Staatsoper Berlin on December 4th. Further performances
followed on the 7th, 11th, 14th, 19th, 22nd and 26th. Marina
Domashenko sang the title role, Rolando Villazón
sang the part of Don José, Hanno Müller-Brachmann
was Escamillo and Dorothea Röschmann sang the part
of Micaëla.
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STAATSOPER BERLIN PRESENTS DIE
WALKüRE
November, December 2004 |
Daniel Barenboim conducted performances
of Harry Kupfer's acclaimed production of Wagner's Die
Walküre at the Staatsoper Berlin on November 28th and
December 2nd, 5th and 12th. The cast included Robert Gambill
as Siegmund, Mikhail Petrenko as Hunding, John Tomlinson
as Wotan, Michaela Schuster as Sieglinde, Deborah
Polaski as Brünnhilde and Rosemarie Lang as
Fricka.
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SCHÖNBERG AND BRAHMS WORKS
HEADLINE STAATSKAPELLE BERLIN PROGRAM
November 2004 |
Daniel Barenboim led performances
of Schönberg's A Survivor from Warsaw and Brahms's
Ein Deutsches Requiem on November 16th at Berlin's Philharmonie
and the following evening at the Konzerthaus. The soprano was
Christine Schäfer and the bass René Pape.
Dietrich Fischer Dieskau took the role of the Speaker.
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DANIEL BARENBOIM PERFORMS A LIEDMATINéE
WITH THOMAS QUASTHOFF
November 2004 |
On the afternoon of Sunday November 7th,
Daniel Barenboim joined baritone Thomas Quasthoff
for performances of Schumann's Dichterliebe, Op 48, Brahms's
Fünf Lieder, op. 94 and Vier Ernste Gesänge, op. 121.
Both artists performed without fee so the proceeds from their
recital could benefit the Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, which
had been heavily damaged by a fire. MDR Klassik applauded
the "two equally exceptional musicians who complemented
one another outstandingly" in a concert that was "unforgettable."
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DANIEL BARENBOIM PERFORMS BACH'S
WELL-TEMPERED CLAVIER IN RECITALS IN GERMANY, ARGENTINA, SPAIN
AND THE UNITED STATES
July, August, October, November 2004 |
The recitals took place July 2 at the Leipzig
Gewandhaus, August 18 and 19 at Buenos Aires's Teatro Colon
(Books 1 & 2), October 6 at Madrid's Auditorio de la Musica,
October 24 at Chicago's Orchestra Hall, November 1 at New York's
Carnegie Hall and November 8 in Berlin. The New York Times
reviewer commented that, "playing 24 preludes and fugues
in one gulp was certainly not in the composer's mind, but the
attention given here made the evening seem not so much a fiercely
run marathon as a grand and leisurely walking tour of the mind
and heart."
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DANIEL BARENBOIM'S CSO AUTUMN RESIDENCY
October 2004 |
October 28, 29, 30
Daniel Barenboim and the CSO performed Arnold Schoenberg's
Erwartung and Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 9. The Chicago
Sun-Times wrote, "Schubert's 'Great' C-Major Symphony closed
the program in a reading that, for all its well-fed romantic
robustness, moved with a freshness and strength that showed
Barenboim at his most spontaneous. Malleable strings, articulate
woodwinds and solid but not blaring brass gave him the warmly
detailed Schubertian sound he asked for."
October 24
Daniel Barenboim performed Book One of J S Bach's Well-Tempered
Clavier at Orchestra Hall in Chicago. According to John von
Rhein of the Chicago Tribune, "It was a deeply philosophical
journey in which one felt privileged to take part. . He approached
these 24 pieces as a conductor might, building symphonic structures
out of spiraling lines of baroque counterpoint that are only
two-dimensional on the page. . This was Bach piano playing of
the highest order." Wynne Delacomo, the Sun-Times reviewer,
said, "Barenboim is one of the finest pianists before the public
today, and he played with his customary fluidity and dazzling
clarity of line."
October 21, 22, 23
Daniel Barenboim led the CSO in performances of Schoenberg's
Five Pieces for Orchestra, Mozart's Piano Concerto No.
23 K488 and Brahms's First Symphony. He did double duty as pianist
in the Mozart concerto. Reviewing in the Chicago Tribune,
John von Rhein wrote of the Schoenberg performance, "Textures
that veer between density and transparency brought out the precision
and clarity [the CSO musicians] are so good at producing." The
Mozart piano concerto performance "was a spontaneous and intimate
kind of chamber music. . A sparkling finale was preceded by
an Adagio that flowed with . heartfelt grace." "[The Brahms
symphony] carried enormous harmonic weight. . But weighty textures
did not impede the music's momentum - quite the contrary. The
strings dug in as if their lives depended on it, driving the
musical argument forward over the eloquent urgings of the woodwinds
and the sonorous majesty of the brass. .. This Brahms First
Symphony, combining grand sweep and thoughtful detail without
a hint of expressive exaggeration, was greeted with a shout
of approval."
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DANIEL BARENBOIM LEADS A PAIR OF
CONCERTS WITH THE STAATSKAPELLE BERLIN AT THE KONZERTHAUS AND
THE PHILHARMONIE
September 2004 |
On September 5 and 7, Daniel Barenboim
and the Staatskapelle Berlin presented a program of Schoenberg's
Five Pieces for Orchestra, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto,
Elliott Carter's Of Rewaking (2002) and Schumann's Symphony
No. 4 at the Berlin Konzerthaus and the Philharmonie respectively.
Maxim Vengerov was the soloist in the Mendelssohn violin
concerto and mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung was the soloist
in Carter's Of Rewaking, a setting of three poems by
William Carlos Williams.
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DANIEL BARENBOIM OPENS THE 2004-2005
BERLIN STAATSOPER SEASON WITH TWO PERFORMANCES OF BEETHOVEN'S
FIDELIO
September 2004 |
On September 1 and 4, Daniel Barenboim
led staged performances of Fidelio with the same cast
as the Lucerne Festival performances the previous week. Reviewing,
Der Tagesspiegel wrote that the second Leonore Overture
sounded as though the spirit of the great 20th century conductor
Wilhelm Furtwängler had descended on the first evening
of the new Berlin opera season.
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DANIEL BARENBOIM AND THE STAATSKAPELLE
BERLIN PERFORM THREE BEETHOVEN CONCERTS AT THE 2004 LUCERNE
FESTIVAL
August 2004 |
On August 24, Barenboim was both conductor
and soloist in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1, which was coupled
with the Symphony No. 3 (Eroica). On August 25, the Piano
Concerto No. 5 was paired with the Symphony No. 6 and on August
26, conductor and orchestra offered a concert performance of
Fidelio with Waltraud Meier, Johan Botha, Falk Struckmann,
René Pape and Carole Höhn in the leading roles.
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DANIEL BARENBOIM AND THE STAATSKAPELLE
BERLIN PERFORM BEETHOVEN AND BRAHMS IN SPAIN
July 2004 |
Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle
Berlin performed Beethoven (the piano concertos Nos. 1 and
5, Symphonies Nos. 3 and 6) and Brahms (Symphony No. 1) in two
concerts at Granada's Palacio Carlos V on July 10 and 11 and
one concert at Salamanca's Centro de Arte on July 13.
On July 9, Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin
performed Beethoven's Third Symphony ('Eroica') in a
free concert at 10:30 p.m. at Madrid's Plaza Mayor. The concert
was a musical tribute to the victims of the March 11 bomb attacks.
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DANIEL BARENBOIM AND THE CSO OPEN
THE RAVINIA FESTIVAL
June 2004 |
The first weekend of the Ravinia Festival 2004 featured Daniel
Barenboim conducting the CSO in a concert version
of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. On the first night,
the temperatures were dipping into the 50s (Fahrenheit) and
the outdoor audience was bundled in sweaters and blankets. Onstage
the soloists included Peter Mattei as Count Almaviva,
Nicole Cabell as Barbarina, Dorothea Röschmann
as Countess Almaviva, Rebecca Evans as Susanna, Alexander
Vinogradov as Figaro, Patricia Risley as Cherubino,
Kevin Deas as Bartolo, Delores Ziegler as Marcellina
and Stephan Rugamer as Basilio. In its review, the Chicago
Tribune said that "The CSO sounded like a shipshape
Mozart ensemble … Conducting from memory, Barenboim was
sometimes brisk …, but his musical understanding was unassailable."
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DANIEL BARENBOIM'S CSO SPRING RESIDENCY
May and June 2004 |
June 10, 11 & 12
The last concerts of the CSO's 2003-2004 season featured Berg's
Seven Early Songs with the German soprano Dorothea
Röschmann, Mozart's Piano Concerto K503 with Daniel
Barenboim conducting from the keyboard and Schubert's Symphony
No. 8 'Unfinished'. Andrew Patner, reviewing for the
Chicago Sun-Times, wrote that this was "all music
where the strongest points of the Barenboim-Chicago partnership
come through; a lightness and flexibility of touch, a deep sense
of communication between podium and players and virtuosic playing
solely at the service of the scores being presented." After
the Concerto, at one of the concerts, Barenboim played the andante
movement of Mozart's Sonata K 330 as an encore.
June 7
Daniel Barenboim conducted members of the CSO in a
contemporary program as part of the Orchestra's MusicNOW
project. The concert, which took place at Millennium Park's
Joan and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance, consisted
of Isabel Mundry's Panorama ciego and the US
premiere of Elliott Carter's Dialogues. Panorama
ciego was composed for Daniel Barenboim as a co-commission
by the CSO and the Berlin Philharmonic. The soloist for Dialogues
was the British pianist Nicolas Hodges.
June 1, 3, 4 & 5
On Tuesday, June 1, Daniel Barenboim conducted the
CSO in a one-night-only sold out performance of Tchaikovsky's
Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique) and Stravinsky's
The Rite of Spring, reprising selections heard by international
tour audiences earlier in the season. The works concerts heard
on June 3, 4, and 5 included Shulamit Ran's "smoky but
intricately shaded Legends", a CSO commission
premiered 11 years ago with Mr. Barenboim on the podium,
Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the CSO's concertmaster
Samuel Magad as soloist, Smetana's Moldau and
Janácek's Taras Bulba. The Chicago Sun-Times
wrote that the "CSO makes it a pleasure to take a new
look at Ran's Legends. … The orchestra seemed
completely at ease with the muscular, oceanic ebb and surge
of Ran's musical ideas. … The large orchestra often sounded
transparent, with shimmering massed violins and the glistening
punctuation of crystalline brass."
May 30
There was no charge for tickets to the Civic Orchestra
of Chicago's concert on May 30th and nearly every seat
in Symphony Hall was taken by an enthusiastic and appreciative
audience. The young musicians performed Tchaikovsky's Fifth
Symphony under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. WMFT's
Andrew Patner wrote, "What a privilege it was to be in
the audience at Orchestra Hall last Sunday evening for the
final concert of the Civic Orchestras 2003-2004 season. One
of Daniel Barenboim's many major contributions to Chicago's
musical life was his role in saving and enhancing this outstanding
institution, a unique training orchestra that for 85 years
has been preparing orchestral musicians for serious careers.
They also are capable of playing as well as and sometimes
better than many a more storied ensemble and such was the
case this week when Barenboim himself led them in performance
of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony that was both rousing and
deeply felt."
May 27, 28 & 29
The following week, Daniel Barenboim took to the piano
as soloist in Brahms's First Piano Concerto. Mariss Jansons
conducted the CSO. "He and Barenboim seem to be musical
soulmates," wrote Wynne Delacoma. "The result was
a Brahms concerto full of fire and almost telepathic communication
between piano and orchestra. … It's easy for Chicagoans
to forget just how spectacular Barenboim is as a pianist.
… It's easy to take his astonishing clarity of tone and
phrasing, limpid grace and powerhouse virtuosity for granted.
This was impossible Thursday night. The Brahms concerto is
a grandly scaled, big-shouldered piece, and its thundering
chords and glistening runs poured out of Barenboim's Steinway
like a force of nature. … At times, the mighty rumble
of the piano's bass register seemed to be the fountainhead
of an equally powerful dark response from the orchestra. At
other times the piano seemed to emerge from the orchestra
itself like one more rich, lustrous strand in the overall
musical texture. The purity of Barenboim's tone exposed every
nuance of color and dissonance in Brahms's densely packed
chords while the concerto's longer, singing lines unfolded
in a rapt atmosphere, almost weightless in their transparency."
May 20, 21, 22, 25
Daniel Barenboim's Spring Residency with the CSO began
with a program that combined two Mozart symphonies (No 35
'Haffner' and 38 'Prague' with Berg's Three Fragments from
Wozzeck and Janácek's Soliloquy from Jenůfa. The
soloist in the Berg and Jenůfa was the German soprano
Angela Denoke. Wynne Delacoma, the Chicago Sun-Times
critic, wrote, "The orchestra swept through Janácek's
lush accompaniment with primal energy, and melodic line soared
and plunged like a lost soul making a final grasp at salvation.
The Mozart symphonies unfolded with the aristocratic grace,
rhythmic clarity and romantic seamlessness so typical of Mozart
under Barenboim's baton."
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DANIEL BARENBOIM CONDUCTS THE NEW
YORK PHILHARMONIC
May 2004 |
On May 18, Daniel Barenboim was conductor and soloist
with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall. The program
was Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, which he conducted from
the piano, and Bruckner's Symphony No. 4.
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ALL BEETHOVEN RECITAL IN PURCHASE
N.Y.
May 2004 |
On May 16th, Daniel Barenboim performed an all-Beethoven
sonatas recital at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase, N.Y.
The program included the sonatas Nos. 14 ('Moonlight'), 17 ('Tempest'),
8 ('Pathetique') and 28 (Op. 101).
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DANIEL BARENBOIM IS AWARDED THE
WOLF PRIZE
May 2004 |
On May 10, in a ceremony at the Knesset (Parliament) in Jerusalem,
Daniel Barenboim was awarded the prestigious Wolf Prize,
honoring his dedication to human rights causes and his commitment
to bringing people together through music. He announced that
he would contribute the $50,000 award to music education projects
in Israel and in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
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DANIEL BARENBOIM CONDUCTS PALESTINE
YOUTH ORCHESTRA
May 2004 |
In August 2003, on his fifth visit to Ramallah, Daniel Barenboim
announced the founding of an infrastructure for musical and
multi-disciplinary education, including a youth orchestra, in
the Palestinian Authority territories. The partners in this
project are the Palestinian National Conservatory, which opened
in 1993, the long-established Friends' School and the newly-established
Barenboim-Said Cultural Foundation. Less than one year on, Barenboim
described the progress that has been made: "Five teachers
have already come from Berlin to live in Ramallah and are teaching
string instruments and wind instruments. The children's thirst
is tremendous, and it is amazing how quickly the interest is
growing among them and how much talent there is there."
In early May 2004, at the Friends School in Ramallah, Daniel
Barenboim performed Beethoven's sonatas Op. 10, No 3 and Op.
109. "The audience was delirious," wrote the newspaper
Haaretz, "while the children … sat within reach
of him on the stage, listening intently." After an intermission,
Barenboim dedicated the concert to the memory of his late friend,
Edward Said. Then he proceeded to conduct two dozen young Palestinian
musicians from the National Conservatory of Music Student Orchestra
in an adaptation of the overture to Carmen and Dvorák's
Slavonic Dances. "The hall overflowed with calls
and whistles," continued Haaretz, "and eyes
glistened with tears. A sense of historical occasion hovered
over the hall."
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STAATSKAPELLE BERLIN PERFORMS BRAHMS
CYCLE IN MUNICH
May 2004 |
On May 3rd and 4th, Daniel Barenboim led the Staatskapelle
Berlin in performances of all four Brahms symphonies in Munich's
Am Gasteig hall
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BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO WITH BERLIN
PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA AND SIMON RATTLE IN ATHENS
May 2004 |
An annual event of the Berlin Philharmonic is the so-called
European Concert on the first of May, to commemorate the founding
of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on 1 May 1882. Each year
a venue of cultural importance in a different European city
is chosen for the concert, and the performance is broadcast
around the world. On May 1, 2004, Daniel Barenboim performed
Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Berlin Philharmonic
under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. The concert took
place at the Herodes Atticus in Athens.
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A BEETHOVEN SONATAS CYCLE AT VIENNA'S
MUSIKVEREIN
April and May 2004 |
During the second half of April and the beginning of May, Daniel
Barenboim performed a Beethoven sonatas cycle in eight concerts
at Vienna's Musikverein. Die Presse wrote, "With
Barenboim an undertaking like this one becomes a voyage to the
core of the music … Whether he is carefully balancing the
formal transitions or navigating the harmonic structure, one
listens to (Barenboim's) playing with just that mixture of emotional
participation and mental awareness that makes art truly great.
…
Barenboim exhibited pianistic dexterity at its highest level,
in which the strength of ideas naturally can and must unite
with emotional power. A small miracle in times like these."
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FESTTAGE 2004 IN BERLIN
April 2004 |
During Berlin's Festtage 2004, Daniel Barenboim conducted
two operas at the Staatsoper Berlin and three programs with
the Chicago Symphony at the Philharmonie. He also partnered
Cecilia Bartoli in a "Liederabend."
The celebrations opened with performances by the Staatsoper
Berlin of Arnold Schoenberg's incomplete opera Moses und
Aron (with Willard White as Moses and Thomas Moser
as Aaron) and Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame. (with Victor
Lutsiuk as Herman and Galina Gorchakova as Lisa)
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra traveled to Berlin to
take part in its sixth Festtage visit. In 2004, the CSO performed
three programs at the Philharmonie, all consisting of one work
each by Bach, Schoenberg and Tchaikovsky. Program one featured
Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Schoenberg's Piano Concerto,
with Peter Serkin as the soloist, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony
No. 5. In program two, Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 2 was followed
by Schoenberg's Violin Concerto, with Nikolai Znaider,
and by Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4. For the final program,
Daniel Barenboim joined Peter Serkin for Bach's Concerto for
Two Pianos, which was followed by Schoenberg's Variations for
Orchestra and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6. Cecilia Bartoli
and Daniel Barenboim joined forces for a "Liederabend"
of works by Salieri, Beethoven, Schubert, Rossini, Viardot,
Delibes and Bizet.
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DANIEL BARENBOIM PERFORMS WITH THE
BERLIN PHILHARMONIC
March 2004 |
Daniel Barenboim performed with the Berlin Philharmonic
on March 9th, marking the 40th anniversary of his first concert
with the Orchestra. He was both soloist and conductor in Beethoven's
Piano Concertos Nos. 2, 3 & 4.
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DANIEL BARENBOIM PERFORMS IN PITTSBURGH
FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1967
March 2004 |
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Daniel Barenboim was the piano soloist with the Pittsburgh
Symphony in early March in performances of both Brahms piano
concertos. Music Director Mariss Jansons was on the
podium. It was Barenboim's first appearance in the city in
37 years. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
"his rendering of both Brahms piano concertos was musically
satisfying - and an event in its own right. …Even though
[Barenboim and Jansons] had never shared the stage before,
an undeniable chemistry existed between them."
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BEETHOVEN-SCHOENBERG PERSPECTIVE
HIGHLIGHTS DANIEL BARENBOIM'S WINTER 2004 CSO RESIDENCY
February 2004 |
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During the month of February, Daniel Barenboim and the CSO
explored and contrasted the music of Beethoven and Schoenberg
in a series of performances under the title Parallels
and Paradoxes.
Program I opened the series with two works: Schoenberg's A
Survivor from Warsaw with soloist Robert Holl and
the men of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, and Beethoven's Ninth
Symphony with soloists Deborah Voigt, Marietta Simpson,
Robert Holl and Clifton Forbis and the Chicago
Symphony Chorus. Of A Survivor from Warsaw, inspired
by reports of groups of Jews from Warsaw who took courage
in singing a Hebrew hymn while they were being rounded up
to be sent to Nazi death camps, the Chicago Tribune
wrote, "With amplified bass Robert Holl powerfully intoning
the narration, and the male voices from the Chicago Symphony
Chorus rising in defiant prayer, the effect was harrowing…"
Program II was conducted by Sir Andrew Davis after Daniel
Barenboim was forced to withdraw because of illness. The repertoire
included Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, Peter Lieberson's Red
Garuda for Piano and Orchestra with Peter Serkin as soloist,
and excerpts from Stravinsky's Suite from The Fairy's Kiss.
Program III featured violinist Nikolaj Znaider performing
Schoenberg's Violin Concerto. After the intermission, the
CSO presented Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 ('Eroica').
In the words of the Chicago Sun-Times, "There
are few easily remembered tunes or predictable patters [in
the Schoenberg concerto] to guide us through the piece. But
its fragmented ideas and quirky rhythms coalesced into a vivid
emotional landscape, thanks to Znaider's gorgeously rich,
singing tone and the orchestra's taut phrasing under Barenboim's
attentive eye and ear. … The 'Eroica' Symphony
was both elegant and majestic."
Program IV offered two Beethoven piano concertos, Nos. 2 and
4, led from the keyboard by Daniel Barenboim, and Schoenberg's
Variations for Orchestra. The Chicago Sun-Times
wrote, "The CSO's spectacular performance of Schoenberg's
Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31 moved the piece far beyond
the narrow confines of problematic 'modern' music and into
the broader realm of compelling music, no matter what the
style or era. … [The performance] was so spectacularly
played, so translucently clear and expressive, that it spoke
directly to the audience."
On February 29th, Daniel Barenboim performed his annual piano
recital in Chicago. The repertoire included Beethoven's Piano
Sonatas Nos. 8 ('Pathetique'), 21 ('Waldstein')
and 28 as well as Schoenberg's Three Piano Pieces.
In her Chicago Sun-Times review, Wynne Delacoma said,
"Coming after the wildly varying moods of Barenboim's
'Waldstein' performance, Schoenberg's searching, often
angry Three Pieces sounded like a logical next installment
of Beethoven's ever-evolving musical ideas. Without sounding
self-indulgent or unduly willful, Barenboim explored every
last corner of Beethoven's silences and his mercurial thunder.
… A similar sense of aching loneliness suffused Schoenberg's
Three Pieces at various points, but Barenboim also
underscored the hints of cool, dispassionate introspection
beneath their unpredictable, fragmented song. From velvety,
barely audible pianissimos to raucous, stabbing chords, he
shaped the music with consummate intelligence and feeling."
As encores, Mr. Barenboim offered a Mozart sonata excerpt,
Traumes Wirren from Schumann's Fantasiestücke
and one of Schubert's Moment Musicaux.
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2004 STARTS WITH
3-WEEK STAATSKAPELLE TOUR OF THE U.S.
January 2004
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The Staatskapelle Berlin and its Music Director flew to the United
States in early January for 13 concerts in seven venues over a period
of 24 days. The programs were largely Schumann and coincided with
the release in the US of their complete Schumann symphonies CD cycle
on the Teldec Classics label. The Orchestra performed single concerts
in Palm Desert, Costa Mesa and San Francisco, California,
in Seattle, Washington and in Newark, New Jersey.
In Chicago's Symphony Hall and New York's Carnegie
Hall, they performed four concerts each, including not only the
four symphonies but also Schumann's Piano Concerto, with Radu
Lupu as soloist, the Cello Concerto, with Yo-Yo Ma as
soloist, the violin concerto with Gidon Kremer as soloist
and the Introduction and Allegro appassionato and the Introduction
and Concert Allegro with Jonathan Biss as piano soloist.
After the first Chicago Concert, the Chicago Tribune's John
von Rhein wrote that, "It was exciting to hear an orchestra and
conductor so magnificently infused with the spirit of one another.
My ears hunger for more". In a later review he said, "Throughout
these warm yet urgent performances, the Staatskepelle's unpressured
sound made the music sound newly minted. . Maestro and musicians
presented us with a fresh rethinking of this music . Together they
tore into the score as if their very lives hung in the balance."
The Seattle Times described the Seattle concert as "two hours
of intense, focused, unanimous playing from an orchestra that can
pin your ears back with forceful passages — or seduce you with
the merest whispers."
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