CLASSICAL NOTES: JULY 2, 2022

(Left: Maestro - Sergiu Celibidache)

Performance of a lifetime! (Review by William Charlton-Perkins)

Thanks to my composer-conductor friend, John Walton, for bringing into my focus, after a lifetime of obsessing over classical music, his favourite maestro - Sergiu Celibidache.

 And what better kick-off than this inspired teaming of the legendary Romanian maestro and the formidable conductor-pianist, Daniel Barenboim, himself one of the foremost musicians of our time, in one of the world's concert staples?

(Right: Daniel Barenboim)

Their collaboration here with the Munich Philharmonic is a revelation. An extraordinary achievement, to imbue "The Tchaikovsky 1" - a well-tried warhorse if ever there was - with a newfound sense of discovery! Their richly nuanced account of Tchaikovsky's masterpiece offers up music-making that is unforgettably powerful, tender, magisterial and thrilling throughout the duration of its magnificent course. 

There is a sense of the soloist and conductor being wholly in accord with each other, as they instil a measure of broad gravitas into the opening movement particularly, that superbly offsets the bravura and brilliance one expects in this familiar terrain. A truly remarkable account. – William Charlton-Perkins

 

(Above: The touching last image was taken at the end of the Tchaikovsky performance in my review, with Barenboim giving the maestro a rose from the bouquet he’d just received onstage. In Europe, unlike here in South Africa, men are given flowers. – WCP)