Opposition can have the unlikeliest beginnings. At the tail end of the sixties London was the undisputed classical music capital of the world. At its centre lay a close knit clan of Jewish musicians – cheekily nicknamed the ‘Kosher Nostra’- whose figurehead was the New York– based violinist, Isaac Stern. Pianist Daniel Barenboim was leader of a pack which included violinists Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zuckerman and grew to embrace cellist Jacqueline du Pre when she and Barenboim fell in love. In order to marry him du Pre converted to Judaism and the couple wed in Jerusalem in June 1967 at the height of that particular Middle East conflict. In the days before their wedding, Barenboim and du Pre were risking their lives playing concerts to Israeli troops on the front line “with the tanks thundering past” as du Pre later recalled. At the age of ten the Argentine – born Barenboim moved with his parents from Buenos Aires to live in Tel Aviv. When, in his twenties, international fame beckoned he adopted London as his base while retaining a house in Israel and remaining an Israeli citizen. With such bona–fide Israeli credentials you would hardly have expected Barenboim to become one of its government’s most conspicuous critics. Yet, like Menuhin before him, Barenboim’s questing mind ensures that his own considered opinions transcend mere political correctness. His averred musical hero remains the conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler who – tainted by his ‘association’ with the Nazis – provoked a mass boycott by Jewish musicians (Menuhin aside) when his name was touted to take over the helm of the Chicago Symphony. Over the past few years, Barenboim’s critiques of the Israeli government have been coruscating: “ Israel is in the grip of a ghetto mentality. We have a powerful army. We have the atomic bomb. But the psychology of what comes out of Israel has the tone of the Warsaw Ghetto.” To inevitable accusations that he has become anti-Israel he retorts: “I don’t think I’m anti-Israeli. I think Sharon is anti-Israeli because it’s in the interest of Israel to understand the problems of the other side.” And that is exactly what Barenboim has been working so hard to do. In 1999 he formed – against all odds – an orchestra made up by an equal number of young Arab and Israeli musicians. The West – Eastern Divan Orchestra (WED for short – and it’s a fitting acronym for what Barenboim has achieved) was the brainchild of Barenboim and his friend, the Palestinian intellectual Edward Said. Their idea was to demonstrate that – through music – it is possible for people from warring factions to co-exist peacefully. After six years of hard work it is proving an overwhelming success and that fact, alone, should convince politicians of the importance of music in education. The Orchestra’s debut CD of Tchaikovsky,Verdi and Sibelius is released next week by Warner Classics and, in August, the Orchestra plays the Proms (August 15th) and Edinburgh Festival (August 16th) before giving a ground – breaking performance in Ramallah, Palestine, on August 21st. At the heart of Barenboim’s mission is his belief that “music is an art that touches the depth of human existence, an art of sounds that crosses all borders.” Politicians of all persuasions please take note.
One politician who did know the value of music was Edward Heath. While he was prime minister he famously conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Elgar’s overture ‘Cockaigne’, which prompted the LSO’s principal conductor, Andre Previn, to say that he didn’t mind the prime minister conducting his orchestra provided he was allowed to run the country for a few hours. Those were the days.
