Berlin    03-02-2010

The uplifting conclusion to Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin’s extraordinary four-concert stint at the Royal Festival Hall in London could not have been better scripted.

Barenboim had insisted on programming Schoenberg’s exquisitely succinct 5 Orchestral Pieces – a notoriously challenging composer – alongside a piano concerto by Ludwig van Beethoven – a notorius crowd pleaser.

Barenboim is a remarkable man. Preceding the performance of the Schoenberg piece he held forth with what he called an ‘illustrated talk’ that was a little longer than the piece itself !  [he probably did more to popularize Schoenberg in this short pre-concert lecture than others have done in the last 100 years!].

He spoke with warmth, analytically and informatively about a piece which he was sure that the audiences ‘parents and grandparents’ would upon first hearing  certainly have wished their progeny never to have to  hear again!

Watching Barenboim it is impossible not also to remember his other side  -his political bravery to help develope young Jewish and Arab musicians in the West-Eastern Divan orchestra  -which he founded along with the equally commendable Palestinian/American academic Edward Said.

Actually one could easily forget that he could just as easily take the easy way out – rest on his laurels and just gracefully bow out, reputation intact and leave the less fortunate younger generation to figure it out for themselves in the Middle East – with or without classical music.

But these concerts in London have proved yet again, that Barenboim is an astute musician – both as a pianist and as conductor – a tireless artistic leader – and a great asset to the city of Berlin.