丹尼尔·巴伦鲍伊姆于1942年出生在阿根廷首都布宜诺斯艾利斯的一个犹太音乐家的家庭里,由于他的父母都是钢琴家,所以他从很小时就开始跟随他的父亲学习钢琴。巴伦鲍伊姆小的时候聪慧过人,音乐才华非常突出,在年仅七岁时,他就作为儿童钢琴家而举行了贝多芬作品的钢琴独奏会,从而引起了听众和舆论界的一片哗然。1952年,他随家一起迁到了以色列定居,也就是在这一年,父母把他送到了欧洲的音乐之国奥地利,让他在那里接受音乐艺术方面的全面训练。来到奥地利之后,巴伦鲍伊姆进入了著名的萨尔茨堡莫扎特音乐学院,在这里,他跟随著名钢琴教授菲舍尔学习钢琴,跟随指挥大师马克维奇学习指挥。两年之后,他又来到法国随著名作曲教授布朗热学习作曲,再过了一年,他又考入了意大利著名的罗马圣切契利亚音乐学院,在这里,他又跟随泽基教授继续深造钢琴和指挥艺术。1955年,13岁的巴伦鲍伊姆在巴黎首次作为钢琴独奏家而举行了正式演出,第二年又在伦敦与著名指挥家克里普斯指挥的皇家爱乐乐团合作举行了音乐会,1957年,巴伦鲍伊姆来到了美国,在纽约,这位15岁的少年钢琴家与指挥大师斯托科夫斯基合作进行了成功的演出,从此以后,钢琴奇才巴伦鲍伊姆的名声便在全世界叫响了。巴伦鲍伊姆开始从事指挥活动是在1962年,而到了1965年他就已经担任了英国室内乐团的指挥了。在这几年里,他曾以充沛的精力和大胆的精神,多次指挥了欧洲许多富有影响的交响乐团,如新爱乐交响乐团、哈勒交响乐团和伦敦交响乐团等等。1968年,他在美国的纽约临时顶替了因病不能上场的科蒂斯而登台指挥了伦敦交响乐团的演出,从而引起了世界音乐舆论界的轰动,从此以后,他便成为著名的青年指挥家而在指挥艺术的道路上青云直上了。
巴伦鲍伊姆成名以后,与世界一流交响乐团的接触变得十分频繁了,1969年,他作为客席指挥首次指挥了柏林爱乐乐团,1970年又与纽约爱乐乐团一起进行了首次成功的合作。到了1975年,著名指挥大师索尔蒂卸去巴黎管弦乐团的常任指挥以后,巴伦鲍伊姆便作为杰出的青年指挥家被聘为该团的音乐指导与常任指挥了,就这样,年仅33岁的巴伦鲍伊姆手下就已经拥有了一个具有世界水平的庞大交响乐团了。巴伦鲍伊姆在这个欧洲最有特色的乐团中一共工作了12年,在这期间他还曾担任过法国巴士底歌剧院和德国德意志歌剧院的音乐指导,进入到90年代以后,他又继索尔蒂之后,成为大名鼎鼎的美国芝加哥交响乐团的新任音乐指导与常任指挥。
作为一个才华横溢的新一代指挥家,巴伦鲍伊姆的艺术修养是很深厚的,他有着天才的钢琴演奏技艺,同时又深通作曲法和室内乐演奏艺术,再加上他本身所具有的浪漫艺术气质,因此他总能给人以一个敏捷、精干和完好的艺术形象。他的指挥风格细腻、简洁和明快有力,从技术上来说,他的指挥棒技巧准确而有功夫,能够在任何复杂的情况下都牢牢地控制住乐队。他的音乐鉴赏力是十分高雅的,因为他有着多年指挥室内乐团的经验,并以此种形式打下了他牢固的指挥业务根基。此外,他还是一位情感丰富和充满浪漫气息的指挥家,这种天生的特征是与他身上带有的犹太血统紧密相连的。
巴伦鲍伊姆在艺术上是一位认真、严谨而又充满执著追求精神的指挥家,无论是对于歌剧、交响乐还是室内乐,他始终都是抱着严肃和积极的态度来认真加以研究和掌握的。在从事指挥艺术的若干年中,他在这些方面所做出的努力是非常引人注目的,与他一起合作过的芝加哥交响乐团的演奏员们曾针对他的这一特点说到:“巴伦鲍伊姆是一位在艺术上既有设想,又努力去使之实现的指挥家。”举例来说,巴伦鲍伊姆原来并不是一位擅长指挥歌剧的指挥家,然而歌剧艺术那出色的音乐性和强烈的戏剧性,却始终使他为之着迷和狂热。于是他便在这方面大大地加以研究、实践和磨炼,最后,他终于成了一位精通歌剧艺术的,尤其擅长演释德奥歌剧作品的著名专家。他指挥的莫扎特、贝多芬和瓦格纳等人的歌剧作品,在全世界都得到了广泛的好评。
作为一名指挥家来说,巴伦鲍伊姆无论从外表上还是内心上,都具有着一种得天独厚的优势。首先,他有着英俊的外貌和高雅的气质,这些特征无论是在吸引听众还是在驯服乐队方面都有着一定的作用。然而更重要的是,他的内心世界是那样的丰富多彩,对于音乐有着异常自由和宽广的想象力,他的艺术风格非常富有诗意,其独特的抒情性和歌唱性亦是他最为明显的艺术特征。巴伦鲍伊姆的前妻迪·普蕾原是世界上著名的大提琴家之一,后来由于染上脊椎硬化的绝症而过早地离开了人世,在她生前,巴伦鲍伊姆曾无数次与她合作演出,除了指挥乐队为她协奏以外,还经常在她的独奏会上为她担任钢琴伴奏,他们之间的精彩合作,曾为全世界的音乐爱好者们带来过无穷的艺术享受,许多动人的情景至今还深刻地印记在人们的脑海中。
巴伦鲍伊姆在指挥曲目上有着相当广的范围,对于德奥作品,英国作品、法国作品和俄国作品来说,他的演释都是十分富有特色的,但相对来说,他对古典主义和浪漫主义音乐作品的演释,应该说是更为精彩和具有说服力的,例如莫扎特、贝多芬、勃拉姆斯、瓦格纳、布鲁克纳、柏辽兹、埃尔加及柴科夫斯基等人的作品,就都是属于他所擅长指挥的范围之内的。
巴伦鲍伊姆虽已是一位功名显赫的指挥家,但他在钢琴演奏方面的突出成就仍然是不能不提的,作为现代最有影响的钢琴家之一,他在这方面所具有的意义是十分突出的,多年来,他一直利用指挥之间的空余时间来从事钢琴演奏活动,有时甚至自己边演奏边指挥乐队协奏。他是莫扎特、贝多芬、勃拉姆斯和肖邦钢琴作品的优秀诠释者,曾经录制过全套莫扎特的钢琴协奏曲及全套贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲和协奏曲以及肖邦的全套夜曲及勃拉姆斯等人的许多作品。
巴伦鲍伊姆无疑已是当代世界指挥界中的一颗灿烂新星,然而他也的确是在一段时间内最有争议的指挥家,有些评论家在议论他的指挥艺术时颇不以为然,甚至于说出过很多刻薄的语言来对他进行攻击,但更多的语调稍缓的人们则认为他作指挥家不如作钢琴家更合适,但从整体上来看,巴伦鲍伊姆仍是一位称职的指挥家的,尽管他不容置否地存在着一些明显的弱点。关于这些,芝加哥交响乐团的演奏员们说得非常清楚,他们说:“我们相信这个乐团的伟大的传统,一定会在巴伦鲍伊姆的领导下发扬光大,因为他不仅是一位一流的钢琴家,而且是一位出色的指挥家,”另外,巴伦鲍伊姆遭受到攻击有的还有一些其它的原因,例如他在1989年被法国的巴士底歌剧院解职一事,就有着一些与当时法国政局有关的政治原因,再说巴伦鲍伊姆也毕竟不是卡拉扬和索尔蒂,因此不能做到十全十美也是非常自然的,但有一点则是十分肯定的,那就是他作为当代著名指挥家来说,其天才能力的显现是非常明确的,否则,他也决不会两次成为指挥大师索尔蒂的接班人。
巴伦鲍伊姆是一位谦逊好学的艺术家,在老一辈指挥家中,他曾表示最为偏爱富尔特文格勒和巴比罗利,并从这两人的身上继承了很多优秀的索质和风格。现在,不管人们怎样看待他,他也已经是举世闻名的超级乐团——芝加哥交响乐团的音乐指导和常任指挥了,但对于他今后的艺术发展和能力的显现,全世界的音乐爱好者和敏感的专业舆论界都在以乐观的态度热情地关注着他,相信,这位天才的新一代指挥家,定会以他的光辉业绩来使全世界感到欣慰的。
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Daniel Barenboim, KBE (Hebrew: דניאל ברנבוים; born 15 November 1942) is an Israeli Argentine-born pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings.
Currently, he is general music director of La Scala in Milan, the Berlin State Opera, and the Staatskapelle Berlin; he previously served as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre de Paris. Barenboim is also known for his work with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a Seville-based orchestra of young Arab and Israeli musicians, and as a resolute critic of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
Barenboim has received many awards and prizes, including an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, France's Légion d'honneur both as a Commander and Grand Officier, the German Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz and Willy Brandt Award, and, together with the Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said, Spain's Prince of Asturias Concord Award. He has won seven Grammy awards for his work and discography.
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by Joseph Stevenson
Daniel Barenboim was born in Buenos Aires on November 15, 1942, into a family of Ukrainian Jewish descent. Daniel's mother was his first piano teacher; he later studied with his father, Enrique Barenboim, who was an eminent music professor. After playing for the noted violinist Adolph Busch, who was impressed by his talent, Daniel made his debut recital at the age of seven. In 1951, he played at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and observed Igor Markevitch's conducting class. The family moved to Israel in 1952; two years later, Daniel went back to Salzburg for a conducting course with Markevitch, piano studies with Edwin Fischer, and chamber music performance with Enrico Mainardi. In the same year, he enrolled in the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, becoming, in 1956, one of the Academy's youngest graduates. He studied conducting with Carlo Zecchi at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, also attending Nadia Boulanger's music theory and composition class at Fontainebleau. After recitals in Paris in 1955, he made his London debut in 1956, playing a recital in Festival Hall as part of the Mozart bicentennial celebrations. His U.S. debut was at New York's Carnegie Hall on January 20, 1957, in Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Leopold Stokowski conducting the Symphony of the Air. Later that year, he made his conducting debut in Haifa, Israel. His first North American recital was on January 17, 1958, in New York. Barenboim played his first cycle of the complete 32 piano sonatas of Beethoven in Tel Aviv in 1960 and then in New York. As a frequent conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra from 1964, he often appeared as soloist-conductor in concertos, touring with the ECO in Latin America and the Far East. Debuts with leading orchestras included the London Symphony Orchestra (New York, 1968), Berlin Philharmonic (1969), and New York Philharmonic (1970). Since then he has guest conducted virtually all of the world's leading orchestras. He led London's South Bank Summer Music Festival from 1968 to 1970. His first appearance conducting opera was at the Edinburgh Festival in 1973; his debut opera was Don Giovanni.
In 1967, Barenboim married the brilliant cellist Jacqueline Du Pré, with whom he made several exceptional recital recordings. The couple also participated in a number of excellent concert and documentary films for television directed by Christopher Nupen. Unfortunately, this partnership ended when Du Pré contracted multiple sclerosis, which forced her to end her playing career in 1972. She died in 1987.
Barenboim became music director of the Orchestre de Paris in 1975. In 1988, the French Minister of Culture announced Barenboim's appointment as artistic director of the new Bastille Opéra in Paris. Sadly, following political squabbles, which included disputes over money and artistic policy, a new Minister of Culture dismissed Barenboim in January 1989. However, that same month he was named as Sir George Solti's successor as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 1992, Barenboim became music director of the Berlin State Opera, then named chief conductor for life by its orchestra in 2002. He has also received awards for his efforts to bring together and mentor young Israeli and Palestinian musicians. In 1999, with Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said, Barenboim co-founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a summer youth orchestra designed to foster understanding and cooperation. In May, 2011, he conducted the ad hoc Orchestra for Gaza, under the auspices of the United Nations.
Barenboim has a rich recorded repertoire as a conductor, pianist, accompanist, and chamber music player. Interestingly, as a pianist, he tends to focus on Mozart, Beethoven, and the early Romantics, while as a conductor he favors later Romantic music, particularly Brahms and Bruckner (he has won a medal from the Bruckner Society of America). With German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau he has played acclaimed recitals of lieder, notably those of Hugo Wolf. In 2004 he resigned his position in Chicago, citing stress brought on by the numerous nonmusical activities conductors of American orchestras are expected to undertake.