They are two world stars who have known and admired each other since their childhood in Argentina – but Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim have only been performing together with the Berliner Philharmoniker for a few years. This season, they demonstrate their special bond in Ludwig van Beethoven’s youthful and spirited First Piano Concerto. Daniel Barenboim – honorary conductor of the orchestra – also presents Johannes Brahms’s Fourth Symphony.With this concert and the performance of Brahms’s Fourth Symphony, a short cycle comes to a close, as Daniel Barenboim has performed the composer’s first three symphonies with the Philharmoniker since 2021. Whether Brahms knew at the time of composition that his Fourth Symphony would be his last is unknown. The first theme, at least, is unmistakably melancholy and comes to a dramatic head in the course of the movement. In the finale, Brahms looks back to the Baroque era through the form of the passacaglia. To achieve an almost tragic conclusion to the work, the composer, as musicologist Egon Voss argues, unusually designed the third movement “like an exuberant old-style finale”. The symphonist Brahms’s impressive final word is an original appropriation of historical forms and techniques expressed in his own personal idiom.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto, on the other hand, is a work of new beginnings. It is possible that the composer played it at his first public appearance in Vienna in 1795, thereby establishing himself as one of the most brilliant pianists of his time. The concerto bursts with ingenious ideas and features a contemplative slow movement before the jazz-like swinging rondo finale. The work is one of Martha Argerich’s signature pieces.  

It is strange to see the ever dynamic Daniel Barenboim moving so carefully seemingly a shadow of his former self. A long difficult illness has obviously slowed him down physically but his inner energy and inspiration will never diminish as he showed yesterday in Berlin. I was reminded of the time when I saw Klemperer conduct in London and he had to be helped onto the platform and did not seem to move an inch but one glance from him was enough to create the magic bond of a living legend whose whole life was music. I will never forget the two performances of the Bach B minor mass in the Royal Festival Hall with the magisterial voice of Janet Baker in perfect harmony with this legendary figure. Ashkenazy playing Brahms second piano concerto with a last movement that was so slow as Klemperer wanted to show the very life blood within the notes rather than racing through it with the speed of a virtuoso.His Fidelio at Covent Garden was memorable too and as I had access as a student to a rehearsal I was witness to the great master seemingly loosing control as the chorus was not with the orchestra.This giant of a man immediately found the strength to stand and beat the time with enormous strokes on his music desk. I remember too Claudio Abbado with a long drawn out illness being a shadow of his former self delving into the very heart of the music with performances that will go down in legend.

Barenboim too has arrived at his Indian summer and long may it last if the performances of the past few days are to be judged . Seated at the podium with his great friend at the piano just below he seemed hardly to move but the look in his eye and a sudden twitch of his baton was enough for the players to know exactly what he wanted them to do.The whispered opening of the concerto beautifully phrased as was the timeless beauty of the opening of Brahms Fourth Symphony. His friend Martha who has played this concert endless times played with imperceptible inflections and slight hesitations as she made the music speak bringing it to life as never before. It was Rubinstein their great friend and mentor who when he played the slow movement of the Emperor in rehearsal the orchestra just stopped and cheered such was the knowing simplicity of a great master.

An Art that conceals Art and Barenboim and Argerich through their seventy or more years of public performances have distilled the very essence of the music as they recreate it with a sense of discovery of which both they and the audience are complices.One is the lifeblood of the other in a play of : Je sense , Je joue , Je transmets.

The players of the Berlin Philharmonic filled the interval with stories and the reverence that they hold for Barenboim and one even exclaimed that she had no idea how he could keeps so many notes in his head! Another found it unbelievable that as an eleven year old boy Barenboim was being mentored by Furtwangler.

Lets not forget that Barenboim also recorded all the Beethoven Concertos with Klemperer conducting as he conducted Rubinstein’s last complete recording too when Horowitz famously quizzed him to know how many wrong notes his old rival had let slip !.

Genius knows no bounds and I well remember the arrival of the ‘Golden Couple ‘ in London in the 60’s with Jacqueline in awe of her husband’s genius as they played their hearts out together as it turned out for a cruelly short time.

It was in the poignant beauty of the slow movement of the Beethoven concerto that one could appreciate the timeless wonder of their music making.Martha barely touching the keys with Daniel just following her every move with a knowing glance and appreciation of the great beauty they were creating together.

Particular thanks for sharing this, Christopher: my two biggest musical hero’s. I had heard a rumour last year that Barenboim had officially retired so to read of this this performance only yesterday, with this particular work (I performed it only this Saturday) and your profound words, I found very moving. 🙏🙏
I last saw them perform the Liszt 1 together at the Proms about 6 years ago…and it was moving then….especially when they played the Schubert Fantasy piano duet together as an encore…two friends sitting side by side making music: a beautiful thing to witness. Between the two of them they contain an unfathomable amount of knowledge, experience and, without exaggeration, the pinacle of classical music performance…
How wonderful to have been there.
Best. Warren Mailley Smith