Daniel Barenboim: A Life in Music - Hardcover

Barenboim, Daniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684193264 ISBN 13: 9780684193267

Publisher: Scribner, 1992

Synopsis

The uniquely varied life of Daniel Barenboim as conductor, performer, and political activist makes this biography compelling reading. His parents, both musicians, taught Barenboim to play the piano at a very early age. When Arthur Rubinstein heard the young prodigy, he was so impressed he immediately brought him to the famous American impresario to the stars, Sol Hurok, who propelled Barenboim onto the world stage. Since then he has performed on virtually every concert stage throughout the world.
As both virtuoso pianist and conductor of symphonies and operas, Barenboim has known and worked with many of the most distinguished and exciting musicians of the twentieth century, including Arthur Rubinstein, Wilhelm Furtwangler, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Pable Casals, and not least his wife, Jacqueline du Pre. When in 1967, he married the high-profile, beautiful cellist du Pre, the golden couple made headlines as they traveled the world performing - often together - until Jacqueline's untimely death in 1987.
Following in the footsteps of Leonard Bernstein - whose keyboard virtuosity paralleled his brilliant conducting talent - Barenboim, too, achieved this pinnacle of his glorious musical career, in both professions, with equal panache.
Until recently, Barenboim was the musical director of the Paris Opera. He has now taken the post of musical director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, sharing his season's commitments with the Berlin State Opera, where he is also the musical director.
Barenboim's other passion - politics - earns the contentious artist constant reprimand in Israel. His championship of a peaceful coexistence with the Palestinians is regarded as highly controversial. Ignoring all dangers, however, he frequently crosses over to forbidden territory, holding master classes for Palestinians, as well as performing there. Further defying authorities, he started a musical summer camp in Germany for Middle Eastern students. "Each one of us has the responsibility to do what's right," he said. "My way is playing music." Addressing himself to his Palestinian students in Ramallah, in the fall of 2002, the New York Times quoted him as declaring, "I want to play music for you, and maybe in a very small way, together we will bring down the hatred so prevalent here."
In October 2002, Daniel Barenboim and the writer Edward Said were awarded the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation and Peace, for their efforts to promote peace in the Middle East.

About this title

About the Author

Daniel Barenboim has been musical director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1991, and of the Berlin State Opera since 1992.

From Library Journal

Barenboim, the current director of the Chicago Symphony, has for several decades been a leading luminary in the classical music world, having achieved superstar status as both a conductor and pianist. In these memoirs, he traces his career from his wunderkind years in Argentina through his marriage to late cellist Jacqueline du Pre to his recent tenures with the Paris Opera and the Berlin and Israel philharmonics. This is not a ghost-written project; the words are all Barenboim's--written during a hiatus in his busy schedule--and he resolutely refuses to indulge the reader with gossip. His seriousness of purpose as a conductor is mirrored in this text; there are scores of instructive and thought-provoking ideas about the art of conducting, performing, and appreciating music. One caveat: The organization of the book is poor; too often, the text rambles from the topic suggested by the chapter titles, resulting in a certain redundancy and lack of focus. One wishes Barenboim the writer had applied the same uncompromising discipline that he does so compellingly as a conductor. For large music collections.
- Larry Lipkis, Moravian Coll., Bethlehem, Pa.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0684193264
• ISBN 13: 9780684193267
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 198
• Editor: Lewin Michael