Saturday 15 August 2009

Interview with Daniel Barenboim

There is an interesting Financial Times lunch interview with Daniel Barenboim, for which, click here. He will shortly be conducting three Proms with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (Wagner, Liszt, and Berlioz; Berg and Mendelssohn; Fidelio), all of which I look forward to hearing - and reviewing. If only the Middle East, or indeed the rest of the world, had a few more sane voices such as his and Edward Said's... And if only the whole world might listen to Beethoven's message in Fidelio, not the plot device of a wife's loyalty to her husband, but the voicing of an inutterably noble idea of freedom. Waltraud Meier will star...