A maestro turns 70 and plays like he's 30 — ego optional, genius mandatory.
With family and friends present, Daniel Barenboim celebrates his seventieth birthday in the company of Zubin Mehta, and the Staatskapelle Berlin. He starts with Beethoven's Piano Concerto in C minor (No. 3) and ends with Tchaikovsky's Piano No. 1 with an Eliot Carter short atonal piece sandwiched between. Both the Beethoven and Tchaikovsky are exquisitely and passionately performed by Barenboim as he commands the piano and dazzles the audience. The structural composition of each comes alive; especially in the 2nd movement of the Tchaikovsky Concerto when the beautiful Claudia Stein opens with a sad flute introduction repeated by the piano. One marvels at the nuance of the Russian composition played an Argentine Israeli with a German orchestra conducted by a man born in Bombay. Mehta in his marvelous laconic way might be seen as the onlooker but the generous Barenboim does not allow it. He brings in Mehta and makes him part of it at all times.
Acting
Barenboim's physical command — conducting while playing piano
Direction
Mehta's laconic presence becomes generous collaboration
Cinematography
Intimate camera finds Stein's flute like a secret
Director
Daniel Barenboim
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Barenboim, Argentine-Israeli, and Mehta, Indian-born, represent classical music's postcolonial power shift — two outsiders who became Berlin institution.
The Carter piece was 'Dialogues' — at 103, Carter outlived this concert by mere months, making this a farewell between two aging giants.
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