Catch up TV

Episode 24 March 2024

A feature-length documentary in which legendary conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim speaks more candidly than he has ever done before about his life and music. Told entirely through interviews with the maestro, the film starts with his earliest musical experiences as a child piano prodigy in Buenos Aires, before following his meteoric rise to fame, including his encounters with other musical giants such as Nadia Boulanger and Arthur Rubinstein, who gave the 14-year-old Daniel his first vodka and cigar!\n\nWe also learn of Barenboim’s move to Israel when he was a teenager, where he lived a double life as a musical genius and an ordinary schoolboy. He then talks with unusual intimacy about his relationship with cellist Jacqueline du Pré and her long battle with multiple sclerosis. The film also charts Barenboim’s stellar career as an orchestral conductor, his move into opera and the founding of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with Edward Said. \n\nSimply told, through just his own words and a wealth of archive from over 70 years performing on the stage, this is the definitive account of an iconic musician.

Source: BBC 4