After the miracle of Wagner, Barenboim made another with Brahms

StaatskapelleBerlin. Director Daniel Barenboim Program: Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op.73 and Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68. Barenboim Festival. CCK Symphony Hall

EXCELLENT

BY Pablo Kohan

In front of a concert of artistic dimensions that surpbades the most imaginative fantasies and even the most demanding expectations, the usual ways can be put aside we work to preparation for a criticism. In this sense, with the sounds of the German orchestra still floating in the memory, it does not seem unreasonable to start from general considerations that make neither the interpretation nor the essential wonders of the works. Emotions can break through and, from the most intimate subjectivity, which, of course, should not be shared, it is necessary to state that the concert that Barenboim and the StaatskapelleBerlin offered Friday at CCK Symphony Hall, is the only one in the world. one of the most glorious and moving that has been lived in the last decades.

In any performance, term become of anthropology and cultural studies and which is perfectly applicable to a public concert, multiple questions intervene, among them, the space where takes place. event and the collective interactions that take place there. Whoever writes has had the opportunity to observe the best orchestras of the world in their own theaters. Amazement and astonishment come unstoppable, almost naturally. But this time, one of the most wonderful orchestras on the planet, led by a musician who is determined to reaffirm his Argentine status, has reached this level so high here, in the beloved Blue Whale , today transformed into Symphonic Hall, a room of great architectural beauty and perfect acoustics. And the audience participated and gave a context to the miracle. The reception in Barenboim was resounding. As the concert unfolded, the attention and silence offered contributed to a better scenario. And the clamor of the end was much more than a thunderous ovation. All together, there have been vibrant experiences, congratulations and immense gratitude for an artistic and superior musical experience.

In the first of Barenboim's concerts to perform Brahms's four symphonies, the second was performed in this order, after the break, the first. Simply, as an enumeration of some of the technical virtues of the orchestra, we can emphasize the impeccable fit, the ability to deploy all the intensities, absolutely everything, an irreproachable general agreement and the talent and ductility of each soloists. the time the score requires. But not only technical excellence will live neither the man nor the orchestras. In this case, it was he who was in front of him and who put all these collective virtues at the service of an absolutely colossal interpretation. Brahms did not write operas. But, without arguments or referentialities, their symphonies are real dramas not in successive acts but in movements. For the two symphonies, Barenboim put drama, colors, lamentations, impulses and ardor to reach as theatrical limits as those of an opera. The two symphonies performed were two huge frescoes, two magisterial cathedrals.

At the beginning of the second symphony, the orchestra seemed concise, dark and mysterious. At the beginning of the first, the same orchestra develops a dense, impenetrable and deep mbad. And after the two beginnings, in each symphony, each moment, each pbadage, each section, and each movement were right to be in themselves and according to an impeccable dramatic continuity. To achieve this musical and argumentative success, Barenboim made every thought beat and gave a musical meaning and a flawless realization to each sentence. In the ensemble of excellence and to name a few, recall the grace and accuracy of the third movement of Symphony No. 2, the overflowing poetry of the second movement of the first symphony and the force with which he concludes the two symphonies. Brahms has never been in such good hands. Brahms never seemed so categorically good.

There are even more performances by Tristan and Isolda and the last two symphonies of Brahms and a last concert dedicated to Debussy and Stravinsky. In light of what has already been seen and heard, it is not difficult to surmise that the StaatskapelleBerlin and Daniel Barenboim will only deepen this indelible imprint.