The Berlin State Opera communicated tonight that its former music director, Daniel Barenboim, will be unable to conduct this week’s subscription concerts ‘due to health reasons.’
Philippe Jordan will conduct an unaltered promramme.
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It appears that some people refuse to listen to what their bodies keep telling them. Barenboim has already accomplished much more than most other mortals could if they were spared ten long lifetimes. It is time to take a step back.
And some people should know better than to kick people when they are down “for their own good.” Who are you to tell Barenboim to set aside his life’s calling? How would you feel if someone on their high horse told you the same?
And anyone who witnessed his Prom last August with the young West Eastern Divan Orchestra or his Festival Hall concert early this month with the same Orchestra, totally in control, with minimal gestures producing glorious sounds, phrasing, ideal tempi, would wish him to go on for ever, as long as he feels he can! This is a youth orchestra, not the Berlin Philharmonic! You would not have guessed it listening! Rave reviews bear witness. May he feel better soon and may there be many more concerts of that calibre conducted by Barenboim
He should have the discernment and judgment to realise that his “life’s calling” is incompatible with the good of the institution. Of what right should anyone put their needs before those of a full opera house? It’s basic humility to recognise what contributions one can and cannot offer. If genuinely all he cares about is making music, there’s plenty of orchestras that would jump at the opportunity to learn from Barenboim for an hour, and it would be much more rewarding than cancelling concerts all the time.
Football is, and was, Wayne Rooney’s “life calling”. He still retired, and now he’s living his best life managing a bottom Championship club.
And what “right” do you have to say which contributions another free man should make? Barenboim did not force the orchestra to accept, nor did he force audiences to buy the tickets. Clearly, many musicians and audiences are eager to work with him/hear him, and they have the right to want that, just as Barenboim has the right to choose how to live his life until the very end. You also have the right not to go to his concerts. So as long as you don’t, this is none of your business. Barenboim is, and always will be, a highly influential and wanted musician. Clearly, that is something that you will never experience, and therefore, can never understand, apparently. Stay on the sidelines as you have all your life and let others shine, ok?
I’m sorry I left you under the impression that I have any kind of power over Barenboim’s schedule. Let me reassure you, I do not, and I make no claim to.
Very well said
The concert is not cancelled simply a different conductor. I booked the Prom this year knowing the risk of a change as will many of the audiences this week.
At the Prom, Barenboim looked almost “on his last legs” at the Proms in the summer. I don’t think anyone can be under any illusion that he is unlikely to last particularly long.
This is between him & his maker. I can think of no better end for the man than to drop while conducting one of his favourite works. A much better end than Jacqueline had.
Comparing Daniel Barenboim to a footballer is ridiculous.
Please Do not compare the genius Daniel Barenboim to a footballer! There can be no comparisons drawn to the achievements of this great Maestro.. long may he continue to inspire musicians across the globe. I wish him better health very soon.
As AJ confronted Mike Tyson, Tyson told him “I am the heavyweight champion of the world.” Ayer replied “and I am the former Wykeham professor of logic. We are both pre-eminent in our field.”
If cross-field comparison is good enough for a professor of logic, it’s good enough for me.
Besides, buying into the “maestro myth” (dixit NL) of great conductors being absolutely unique might be what got us into this.
No one, certainly not I, is kicking DB when down. That’s your take. But apparently some can’t cope with reality.
Heartless.
You are under the false impression that you are somehow the arbiter of “reality”. Actually, reality is already presented to you, yet you are needlessly complaining like a child. The reality is that people still want to work with Barenboim and audiences still want to hear him conduct. Nobody is forcing you to participate in this. If you want to talk about “coping with reality”, then your role is to accept this fact, step aside, and let others who actually made something of their lives live their lives. Got it?
Would you say that to 95yo Blomstedt?
When is the “right age” to quit, anyway? 80? 90? 35?
For some people, and I certainly count Barenboim among them, music is not a thing they do. It is their entire life. It’s not like he can quit, go home and watch TV.
Barenboim, like many many others, is the sort of musician who will be making music until his very last breath. It is not an assault on his health, but quite the contrary. Music IS his health.
He’s 97!
He is 82 not 97!!!
Blomstedt is 97.
Not too swift!
Blomstedt is healthy, very rarely – if ever cancels – and as was made clear recently on this blog – ensures there’s a capable cover at his concerts. And Blomstedt got out of the MD game years ago.
Meanwhile, buying a ticket to a Barenboim concert is a gamble, every time, both in terms of quality (I’ve documented on this blog weak his concert with Bartoli a year ago was) and simply in terms of presence. Concertgoers got lucky with Jordan this time.
And there’s plenty of things you can do, music-wise, that do not require 3-years in advance planning and conducting a full orchestra! Teach, mentor, give masterclasses, give chamber recitals with friends, and lead the Divan every year. I mean, have a look a Zubin Mehta’s schedule – he gives a handful of concerts a year, but he does them.
Yes, Blomstedt should quit too. His entrances and exits are undignified. Eventually they will cart him out on stage in a wheelchair like the old Masur. The romantic illusion that all this has anything to do with music is absurd. The whole thing serves only one purpose: to line the pockets of the agents and concert organizers. Highly embarrassing.
You clearly have not seen his concerts. As recent as last Thursday at the RFH, his entrances and exits are as dignified and celebrated as it can get. It was a sensational and memorable concert received with much gratitude and respect from the audience.
Von Karajans entrances and exits in the 80s were certainly not dignified. Once on the box it was sensational.
WOW! Only the young, fit & beautiful for you, I see.
Obviously your music expertise is the physical acumen & appearance of the performer. That he can walk on & off the stage like a ballet dancer, because YOU might be uncomfortable. Oh! He’s crippled & uses crutches & has braces on his legs – therefore he is incapable of playing the violin?
What is embarrassing about that? The embarrassing thing is that there are people like YOU in the world. My little fingernail has more knowledge & intellugence than you have or ever will have. And yes, age is pulling me down, but BY GOD, no ignoramus like you is going to diminish my knowledge, nor will you diminish Barenboim, nor the rest of the knowledgeable musicians. We still have do much to give the world. Mme Boulanger did have too.
So sorry that you are such a failure.
Conductors are known for long lives due in part to the exercise of directing! Anyone catch a recent video of Miss Argerich and Maestro Barenboim Performing a complicated piano duet with incredible fluidity and delicate expression? We wish Conductor Barenboim good health for many more years.
Daniel Barenboim! He was one of the best ever.
He still is!
Barenboim could never ‘take a step back’. Music is what he does. Performing, or at least the prospect thereof, might even keep him alive.
Music does not only exist at major symphony orchestras, you know.
It seems that you’re just bitter that he still gets to conduct major orchestras. Yes, there are other opportunities for him, and only he, the orchestras, the audience, and the organizers have the right to decide where he will conduct. It is absolutely none of your business, when in fact, the people involved are all very content with this arrangement. You’re not involved in this, so calm your inflated ego that believes your opinion actually matters in this.
To those who disagree, give me a rational argument against what I said above? How exactly is this your business, and why do you feel entitled to speak on behalf of Barenboim and the ones actually involved? Do share, and if you cannot, then accept that you are just throwing a tantrum in the face of facts. Perhaps I have indulged your tantrums a bit too much already, as we all know that ignoring is the best way to educate petulant children 🙂
I never liked him. Grumpy, big ego and fairly mediocre at best. In my lp/cd collection of over 2,000 items…..there is no recording by Barenboim. I don’t think I have missed anything.
Some people just DO NOT KNOW what to do with themselves when being threatened of losing their music because making music IS THEIR SOUL
They won’t be disappointed with Jordan.
You’re only as good as your last concert “Quit while you’re ahead” is a good motto. We will all remember him for his fantastic performances over so many years- a true maestro…..
Knowing when to say when and leaving the stage with grace is a lasting, fondly remembered legacy. Continuing to accept concerts when ones abilities have failed due to health, or other reasons with constant conacellations can destroy an otherwise impeccable legacy built up on successes over many decades. So many examples of this happening in music.
It’s not about whether or not Daniel Barenboim should or should not conduct. He is a hero for using his unquestioned talent to bring together Jews and Arabs in a symphonic relationship. His legacy is permanent. He showed that peace and unity are not to be sought in some indetermined future. They are already inherent in music and in our common humanity and our task is to learn how to use this unity to enrich us in our diversity. He will perform for us for ever in this life and the life to come, and we should be ever grateful.
“Oh reason not the need!” wails King Lear. If Barenboim feels still the urgent need to communicate let him do so and we, if possessing of any human understanding will marks his weaknesses with humility and a recognition that this is part of the human condition. We owe him much for his signal contribution to music over many decades. He’s not playing piano publicly anymore – that would be different for (as in the case of Menahem Pressler) his physical ‘apparatus’ is simply not up to it.
He is not an airline pilot, a bus driver or a surgeon. His choice to continue conducting poses no danger to the public. Those who wish to pay to hear him know all about his health problems and the possibility that there he may cancel, in which case there would probably be a substitute on the night. In that event, nobody has any business to criticise him for continuing to conduct concerts. I applaud his determination and courage in serving his audience, who clearly support him.
History is full of musicians who have similarly continued performing despite the challenges that come with advancing age. Klemperer and Boult are two examples. Even more poignant for me was being present at the Last Night of the Proms in 1989. At the time, the conductor, Sir John Pritchard, was suffering with advanced terminal cancer. He was visibly unwell but rose to the occasion and the result was a memorable evening of outstanding performances. I understand that waiting in the wings were not only doctors but another eminent conductor, ready to take over in case of an emergency. Thankfully, they were not needed but Sir John died only four months later. Thank goodness that he was not persuaded to stand down by ‘well-wishers’!
Similarly, Sir Malcolm Sargent conducted the Last Night in 1967, visibly weakened by severe illness. During his memorable speech, he said that he had accepted the invitation to conduct at the following year’s Proms. He died only two weeks later.
Leave Barenboim to decide for himself when to retire.
I guess some of the folks here would scream, “Ludwig, you’re stone deaf, go home!”