Barenboim's Elgar BBC Proms

Elgar's Second Symphony at the Proms. Daniel Barenboim conducted

the Staatskapelle Berlin. Our apologies for the loss of

transmission for a few minutes during the first movement of that

performance. One of the great privileges of watching a performance

like that is seeing how much it means to Daniel Barenboim and the

players. Every second played with such full commitment that every

player of the orchestra, every moment, etched on Daniel Barenboim's

face. A rather different reception to the one Elgar got in 1911. An

audience not sitting there like stuck pigs, Elgar would be glad to

hear. The appreciation in the Royal Albert Hall. So many riches in that

performance. This idea we sometimes have of Elgar as belonging to a

different tradition than that of Strauss and Mahler, but every fibre

of that piece was about disproving that. An essential early document of

the early 20th century, very much of its time. The vividness of the

colours in that lament of the second movement, the sheer involvement and

commitment, I say again, the string playing part of this orchestra, the

Staatskapelle Berlin. They looked to be enjoying this so much, giving

this symphony, Elgar, to a British audience, to us, at the Proms. And

Barenboim made the point about how connected Elgar's music is with

Europe. Well, Richard Strauss announced the Enigma Variations as a

masterpiece, the first significant piece by an English composer, and in

one of the last concert she told me that just as Mahler conducted in New

York before he died in 1911, and the piece was Elgar's Enigma Variations.

Not only are the audience not sitting there like stuffed pigs.

These are uploading birds of paradise, one might perhaps call

them. They seem to want more from this orchestra as well. But the

woodwind section of the orchestra, on their feet. That astonishing oboe

sole plate tonight by Fabian Schar raver, kind of improvisation array

-- oboe solo, played tonight. You don't always associate Elgar with

sheer sonic power but there was a lot of that in that performance

here. The violence that Barenboim unleashed in that third movement,

inspired by her Tennyson poem of someone in a shallow grave hearing

the hooves trample on his head. The whole orchestra on their feet now.

And orchestra really have a close relationship with Daniel Barenboim.

He has been the general music director there since 1992 which is

means he is in charge of the Opera house there as well, and he has held

the conductor for life title since the year 2000. More applause. The

audience want more from Daniel Barenboim. They maybe think of his

previous appearances at the Proms, where he has given so many concerts.

In 2012 there was a cycle of Beethoven's named Symphony -- ninth

Symphony along with the complete performance of Wagner's Ring Cycle.

And more music... music in which Elgar surely shows

his soul. The Nimrod variation from the Enigma Variations. I wonder in

that performance if some of Daniel Barenboim's soul is revealed. This

deep connection with Elgar and his first wife, Jacqueline du Pre.

Somehow, the spirit of noble lament in that music is in a way what the

Second Symphony is about, albeit on a grander scale. Sometimes an encore

feel like they believed to a different spiritual universe but not

that one, it feels like a continuation of the world of the

symphony. Daniel Barenboim bringing this orchestra to their feet, the

Staatskapelle Berlin. He has created another of these

unforgettable experiences at the Proms, whether it is Beethoven,

Wagner, Elgar, Daniel Barenboim and this orchestra, something special

happens when they are here at the Royal Albert Hall, sharing music

with this audience and with you at home. Something you feel means more

to him, sums up his approach to music making, reaching the widest

possible audiences. Something that runs through his life as a musician,

with the West Eastern Divan Orchestra, other musicians, driving

everything he does as a conductor. He is on the podium. That could mean

there is still more music. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you

will bear with me. There are some words I would like to say today that

I would like to share with you. I don't know if all of you will agree

with them. I really would like to share that with you, but, first of

all, I would like to thank this wonderful orchestra.

APPLAUSE Not for being wonderful, this is

what they are! LAUGHTER But for having agreed to

postpone their holiday by a week, I think, or more, in order to be able

to come to London to the Proms, this weekend, to play, because to play

for you the Elgar symphonies is something very important to them.

They really fell in love with this music. And they really wanted to

bring it to London and I am very grateful they are only going on

holiday tomorrow. LAUGHTER APPLAUSE

And I would like to share with you some feelings, thoughts I have.

Not political. LAUGHTER Not political but rather of human

concern. When I look at the world with so

many isolation tendencies. I get very worried. I know I am not alone.

APPLAUSE You know, I lived in this country

for many years. I was married in this country and I

lived here for many years. I was shown so much affection whilst I

lived here, that this kind of gave me the impetus, if you want to say

what I would like to say, I think that the main problem today is not

the policies of this country and that country. The main problem of

today is that there is not enough education.

APPLAUSE That there is not enough education

for music, we have known a long time, but now there is not enough

education about whom we are, about what is a human being and how is he

to relate with others of the same kind?

APPLAUSE That is why I say it is not

political, but it is of human concern. If you look at the

difficulties that the European continent is going through now, you

can see why that is. Because of the lack of common education. Because in

one country, they do not know why they should belong to something that

whether other countries do. I am not talking about this country, no.

LAUGHTER I will come to that. I am talking in general. Our

profession, the musical profession, is the only one that is not

national. No German musician will tell you, I am a German musician and

I will only play Brahms, Schumann, and Beethoven.

CHEERING We had very good proof of it

tonight. Let me stay out of Great Britain. If

a French citizen wants to learn Goethe, he has to have a

translation, but he does not need a translation for the Beethoven

symphonies. This is why music is so important. And this isolationist

tendency, and nationalism in its very narrow sense is something that

is very dangerous and can only be fought with a great accent on

education of the new generation. We are probably all too old for that.

LAUGHTER But the new generation have to understand that Greece, and

Germany, and France, and Denmark, have all something in common called

European culture. CHEERING

APPLAUSE Not only Europe.

Culture. This is really the most important thing. And, of course, in

this cultural community called Europe, there is a place for diverse

culture. For different cultures, for a different way of looking at

things, but this can be done only with education. And the fanaticism

that exists in the world, with religious backgrounds, can also only

be fought with education. APPLAUSE

Religious fanaticism cannot be fought with arms alone. The real

evils of the world can only be fought with humanism, that keeps us

all together. Including you. And I am sure going to show you that I

really mean it. APPLAUSE

MUSIC: Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 by Elgar

Daniel Barenboim and his international cultural community of

musicians, the Staatskapelle Berlin. Am everybody here, with the Pomp and

Circumstance March. A tune that belongs all of us. Something you may

hear later in the season. From all of us at the Royal

Albert Hall, good night.