I am at Symphony Center tomorrow evening for those two Mozart Piano concertos and two Webern pieces. What a perfect program! And once this week is over that is the end of Daniel Barenboim for Chicago, at least for the forseeable future. He has been an essential part of Chicago's musical life for four decades. Is this really it?
I am sure that we will all have our own views about Barenboim and the part he has played in our own musical lives. It is way more than 40 years since I first heard him play in London. And his special brand of music making and his passionate engagement has been a huge inspiration to his contemporaries (he is just a year younger than me).
So I am one of those that accept completely willingly his uncompromising attitude. This was clearly and, I think, most sympathetically described by John von Rhein in the Trib yesterday.
I have the good fortune to travel a certain amount so no doubt I will encounter him again - whether in Berlin, Milan, London, Paris or New York. But I am a Chicagoan for the time being - and we need this high order of music making here. And of course we do now and will continue to get it from others. We must be thankful for that at least.
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