Word: barenboim
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...Israeli conductor-pianist Daniel Barenboim, 46, Paris has truly been the city of light. During his 14-year tenure leading the Orchestre de Paris, he built a major international reputation and branched out to top assignments in the opera world. A year and a half ago, he won the powerful job of artistic director at the still uncompleted Opera de la Bastille. In September the grateful government awarded him the Legion of Honor. But now Barenboim's luck has turned. While President Francois Mitterrand kept silent, he was summarily fired -- and just as summarily vowed to sue. He denounced...
With that, the Bastille exploded into the biggest uproar since a mob stormed the fortress prison to begin the French Revolution of 1789. Some of the brightest stars in the world of music noisily opened fire in support of Barenboim. Jessye Norman, the stately Georgia-born soprano, said she would "reconsider" whether to sing in the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the Revolution. Patrice Chereau, who was to stage a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni on opening night a year from now, said he considered his contract "annulled by this event." Conductor-composer Pierre Boulez resigned...
They booed Harry Kupfer in Bayreuth last week. To be sure, they also booed Set Designer Hans Schavernoch and Conductor Daniel Barenboim. But the real invective -- a great, throaty vassals' chorus of opprobrium -- was reserved for Kupfer, the tousle-headed East German director who had committed the unpardonable sin: staging a brilliantly theatrical production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen that had little to do with musty tradition and everything to do with revivifying...
Leading his first Ring, Conductor Barenboim leaves a mixed impression. His predilection for slow tempos is very much in evidence, yet occasionally he bolts precipitately, as in the final scene of Siegfried, when it is all that Polaski and Jerusalem can do to keep up. There is some piquant orchestral detail at times, but at others the texture is crude. Barenboim's challenge is to find a convincing, unified point of view...
...Daniel Barenboim, 42, on what he has learned in ten years of conducting the Orchestra of Paris: "When they want to be difficult, the French can seem impossible. But when they decide to get something done, there's no one better...