CLASSICAL REVIEW
Daniel Barenboim: A Retrospective The Complete Sony Recordings (43 CDs plus 3 DVDs) Out now ★★★★★
Back in 1954, the legendary German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler described the 11year-old Daniel Barenboim as ‘a phenomenon; not only his musical but also his technical abilities are staggering’. Furtwängler expressed the hope that ‘he will be able to fulfil his early promise’. As Barenboim approaches his 75th birthday, it’s safe to say that he has – both as a conductor and as a pianist. This set takes us back to the very beginnings of his adult career. In his 20s, Barenboim was recording all the Beethoven piano sonatas for EMI and all the Mozart piano concertos, directing them from the keyboard. For Sony (then CBS) he primarily features as a conductor, with exceptional performances including the Tchaikovsky Fourth Symphony from 1971. This box happily concludes with a brilliant 2014 New Year’s Day Concert from Vienna. There is some Mozart here; violin concertos with one of his mentors Isaac Stern, and Pinchas Zukerman. For EMI the 24-year-old Barenboim recorded a set of Beethoven piano concertos with Otto Klemperer at the helm . What will surely intrigue most collectors are the eight Elgar albums Barenboim recorded in his early 30s. He has recently returned to Elgar, with Berlin recordings of his symphonies. These may show more maturity but I still love his earlier Elgar efforts. A fascinating set and a real tribute to one of the finest and most versatile musicians of our time.