A LIFE IN MUSIC reviews five decades of the rich and uniquely varied musical life of Daniel Barenboim. A child prodigy as a pianist and a virtuoso conductor of symphonies and opera, he has known and worked with many of the most distinguished and exciting musicians of the 20th century, including Rubinstein, Klemperer, Furtwangler, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Fischer-Dieskau, Pablo Casals and not least his own wife Jacqueline du Pré, among many others. `He still insists on undertaking grand projects that only a madman or genius would contemplate', The Times noted in August 2001, and recent years have included his work at the annual Wagner Festival in Bayreuth; his involvement with the rebirth of the State Opera House in Berlin; taking over from George Solti's 22-year reign in Chicago; his summer festivals at Weimar in Germany where young Arab and Israelis can play music together; and his worldwide travels. He gives us his trenchant thoughts on Israel today, the problems facing young musicians and the changing world of music at the beginning of the 21st century.

A Life in Music

Daniel Barenboim

Biographies & Memoirs

Weidenfeld&Nicolson

<p>Daniel Barenboim's new book vividly describes his lifelong pursuit of knowledge and understanding, not only of music and of life, but of one through the other. As he himself says in the introduction, "This is not a book for musicians, nor is it one for non-musicians, but rather for the curious mind that wishes to discover the parallels between music and life and the wisdom that becomes audible to the thinking ear." Indeed, the topics covered in the book range from the problems of timing - whether in a piece of music or a political process - to the philosophy of Spinoza and its relevance to musical interpretation. The main theme of the book is the impossibility of separating music from other realms of intellectual pursuit. Barenboim advocates the integration of music and musical thought into our everyday lives. He does not hesitate to raise difficult and uncomfortable questions, such as whether to perform Wagner in Israel. His unconventional and often controversial views of conflict in the Middle East are illustrated by an essay about the destinies of two Palestinians - one from the occupied territories and one from Israel. One of Barenboim's most celebrated and ground-breaking projects is an eloquent testimony to the power music holds over our lives: the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. He explains how an understanding of music among the young Israelis, Palestinians and Arabs of other countries in the orchestra can contribute to the comprehension of their dependence on one another and, ultimately, to a better human understanding. As he says, "The power of music lies in is its ability to speak to all aspects of the human being-the animal, the emotional, the intellectual, and the spiritual. Music teaches us, in short, that everything is connected."</p>

Everything Is Connected: The Power of Music

Arts & Literature

Daniel Barenboim, Fryderyk Chopin. Con CD Audio

Classica Italia

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Books by Daniel Barenboim