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"Barenboim is the the Ueber-mensch of musical duds"
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Mr. Mike
Feb 10, 2013, 3:49:52 PM2/10/13
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(I found this while searching for some other review...)
Review of West-East Divan [DVD Video] by Peter P. Fuchs "The
Meta-Reviewer"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A3GGD7ZWVWIKOU/ref=cm_cr_pr_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview
1.0 out of 5 -- stars Incredible: Uses "Cooperation" for His Career of
Boring Pretense, February 8, 2013
I saw Barenboim interviewed on Aljazeera recently, and yes I watch
Aljazeera, as it it is a well done news channel in many ways, but not
always fair. But the interview was amazingly disturbing. For, firstly,
Aljazeera interviewers are not exactly usually bending to see the
Israeli side of things. But compared to Barenboim, their guest, the
interviewer himself seemed vastly more fair to Israel than the famous
Jewish performer he was interviewing!! Incredible. I won't mince
words, to set the stage for the necessity of mixing aesthetic and
political assessment here.. For a man with natural talents that others
could only dream of, Barnboim to my passionately music-loving ears,
might be the biggest time -waster in music history. He seems to
attempt to create some qausi- transcendental realm above it all. That
would be fine, as an heuristic, if it created great results. For the
proof is always in the musical pudding, no matter how it is performed.
Instead he has created a decades' long mountain of oh-so-polished
tedium. And he has fans I believe, only because of that
well-identifiable realm of "music lover" who are actually bitterly
world-weary lovers of tony background music.
But not until I saw the Aljazeera interview did I truly understand how
a human being could pull off this sustained and paradoxical campaign
of elegant ambiguity for so long. After excoriating virtually
everything about modern Israel's stance in recent times, he actually
said to the interviewer: "I am anti-political" He then temporized
relatedly on a bizarre pseudo-philosophy, by which his self-described
antipathy to politics allows him to somehow see thoroughly political
matters with some special bespoke neutrality, and of course, that
seemed to connect with this orchestra he runs.
Again, Aljazeera interviewers are not usually exactly eager to counter
anti-Israeli tropes, but Barenboim's avowal that he was
"anti-political" after the indelibly political anti-Israel Idyll he
had just conjured, seemed to make even their interviewer bristle with
the Alice in Wonderland contradiction of it all. Naturally, how this
man Barenboim could be so loony and detached from reality to claim
that he was anti-political after engaging in non-stop political
harangue is a subject for abnormal psychology, more than reasoned
debate. But as a cultural matter, it can be analyzed, Thus, it dawned
on me that his position was very much like the mental stance imputed
to Wagner by the author of the book The Tristan Chord. Allegedly, it
is a position beyond politics by some personal, philosophical alchemy.
By which an historical figure can't be assessed by normal parameters
of political difference. It is also pure rubbish, and delusional
thinking. Yet it did clarify how this super-humanly talented musician
could have created the most improbable melange in a "distinguished"
career. A super-refined zone of unreal nonsense, which probably even
Wagner himself could not manage, otherwise he would have been able to
complete his infamously fake "Buddhist" opera. No wonder Barenboim is
also a lauded Wagner dirigent.
Since I belong to an online classical music live-concert file sharing
group, I actually have downloaded a number of performances with this
Divan orchestra. What I can say, and reluctantly for the sake of the
well-meaning young people inovled is the following. A more
unremarkable take on great music is hard to even imagine. It is a
genius' attempt at magnificent tedium, above politics, and above human
enjoyment. Barenboim is the the Ueber-mensch of musical duds, and an
utterly sui generis avatar of self-hating Jewishness. The only way
that will help bring peace is if being lulled to elegant torpor is
strategically good for diplomacy.
Review of West-East Divan [DVD Video] by Peter P. Fuchs "The
Meta-Reviewer"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A3GGD7ZWVWIKOU/ref=cm_cr_pr_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview
1.0 out of 5 -- stars Incredible: Uses "Cooperation" for His Career of
Boring Pretense, February 8, 2013
I saw Barenboim interviewed on Aljazeera recently, and yes I watch
Aljazeera, as it it is a well done news channel in many ways, but not
always fair. But the interview was amazingly disturbing. For, firstly,
Aljazeera interviewers are not exactly usually bending to see the
Israeli side of things. But compared to Barenboim, their guest, the
interviewer himself seemed vastly more fair to Israel than the famous
Jewish performer he was interviewing!! Incredible. I won't mince
words, to set the stage for the necessity of mixing aesthetic and
political assessment here.. For a man with natural talents that others
could only dream of, Barnboim to my passionately music-loving ears,
might be the biggest time -waster in music history. He seems to
attempt to create some qausi- transcendental realm above it all. That
would be fine, as an heuristic, if it created great results. For the
proof is always in the musical pudding, no matter how it is performed.
Instead he has created a decades' long mountain of oh-so-polished
tedium. And he has fans I believe, only because of that
well-identifiable realm of "music lover" who are actually bitterly
world-weary lovers of tony background music.
But not until I saw the Aljazeera interview did I truly understand how
a human being could pull off this sustained and paradoxical campaign
of elegant ambiguity for so long. After excoriating virtually
everything about modern Israel's stance in recent times, he actually
said to the interviewer: "I am anti-political" He then temporized
relatedly on a bizarre pseudo-philosophy, by which his self-described
antipathy to politics allows him to somehow see thoroughly political
matters with some special bespoke neutrality, and of course, that
seemed to connect with this orchestra he runs.
Again, Aljazeera interviewers are not usually exactly eager to counter
anti-Israeli tropes, but Barenboim's avowal that he was
"anti-political" after the indelibly political anti-Israel Idyll he
had just conjured, seemed to make even their interviewer bristle with
the Alice in Wonderland contradiction of it all. Naturally, how this
man Barenboim could be so loony and detached from reality to claim
that he was anti-political after engaging in non-stop political
harangue is a subject for abnormal psychology, more than reasoned
debate. But as a cultural matter, it can be analyzed, Thus, it dawned
on me that his position was very much like the mental stance imputed
to Wagner by the author of the book The Tristan Chord. Allegedly, it
is a position beyond politics by some personal, philosophical alchemy.
By which an historical figure can't be assessed by normal parameters
of political difference. It is also pure rubbish, and delusional
thinking. Yet it did clarify how this super-humanly talented musician
could have created the most improbable melange in a "distinguished"
career. A super-refined zone of unreal nonsense, which probably even
Wagner himself could not manage, otherwise he would have been able to
complete his infamously fake "Buddhist" opera. No wonder Barenboim is
also a lauded Wagner dirigent.
Since I belong to an online classical music live-concert file sharing
group, I actually have downloaded a number of performances with this
Divan orchestra. What I can say, and reluctantly for the sake of the
well-meaning young people inovled is the following. A more
unremarkable take on great music is hard to even imagine. It is a
genius' attempt at magnificent tedium, above politics, and above human
enjoyment. Barenboim is the the Ueber-mensch of musical duds, and an
utterly sui generis avatar of self-hating Jewishness. The only way
that will help bring peace is if being lulled to elegant torpor is
strategically good for diplomacy.
Bob Lombard
Feb 10, 2013, 4:41:34 PM2/10/13
to
On 2/10/2013 3:49 PM, Mr. Mike wrote:
> (I found this while searching for some other review...)
>
> Review of West-East Divan [DVD Video] by Peter P. Fuchs "The
> Meta-Reviewer"
>
>
This isn't a 'review', it's a blog article in (thin) disguise. The whole
> (I found this while searching for some other review...)
>
> Review of West-East Divan [DVD Video] by Peter P. Fuchs "The
> Meta-Reviewer"
>
>
body of his reviews is a mess of blog articles.
Bob Harper
Feb 10, 2013, 5:17:03 PM2/10/13
to
despite the arguably inappropriate forum? Hw do folks here see Daniel
Barenboim as a pianist/conductor?
Bob Harper
John Thomas
Feb 10, 2013, 8:09:45 PM2/10/13
to
much as Wagner's did with his. Gilels was a KGB agent.
arri bachrach
Feb 10, 2013, 8:34:33 PM2/10/13
to
station............. at best, a below average concert pianist, suspect
technique. I suppose he is a fine conductor, Chicago would not have
tolerated 2nd rate conducting. His ego, for me is insufferable
Oscar
Feb 10, 2013, 8:34:47 PM2/10/13
to
On Feb 10, 5:09 pm, John Thomas wrote:
>
> What's Barenboim's politics got to do with his musicianship? About as
> much as Wagner's did with his. Gilels was a KGB agent.
And Irving Berlin was a proud American.
>
> What's Barenboim's politics got to do with his musicianship? About as
> much as Wagner's did with his. Gilels was a KGB agent.
'According to his daughter, "[Berlin] was consumed by patriotism. He
often said, 'I owe all my success to my adopted country. I love this
country.'"' ¹
Jerk! <sarcasm>
1. McCorkle, Susannah. 'Always: A Singer's Journey Through the Life of
Irving Berlin', American Heritage, November 1998, pp. 74–84.
arri bachrach
Feb 10, 2013, 8:35:50 PM2/10/13
to
John Thomas
Feb 10, 2013, 10:23:38 PM2/10/13
to
Bob Harper
Feb 10, 2013, 11:40:33 PM2/10/13
to
ECO, and certain of his Mozart Concerti from that early cycle. Not as
big a fan since.
Bob Harper
Herman
Feb 11, 2013, 3:16:32 AM2/11/13
to
SPAM- @xs4all.nl HvT
Feb 11, 2013, 5:57:39 AM2/11/13
to
moments, not of gripping performances. His criticism of the lack of a long
term vision of politicians like Netanyahu, I share. But then, politics and a
long term vision only seem to go well together in China.
Henk
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