Wagner | Elgar | Brahms (2011)

Ieder jaar viert het Berliner Philharmoniker zijn verjaardag met een concert in een Europese stad. In 2010 was dat Oxford. Daniel Barenboim was de dirigent van dienst, met Alisa Weilerstein als solist in Elgars Celloconcert, dat voor altijd geassocieerd zal blijven met nota bene Barenboims overleden vrouw en muzikale partner Jacqueline Du Pré. "Barenboim´s programme played to the orchestra's strengths, and the sound was sumptuous. The plush strings and refulgent brass permitted him to unfold the introspective third-act prelude to Wagner's Die Meistersinger with glacial slowness, while the energy that pulsed through Brahms's First Symphony, its phrases sculpted in great expressive arcs with every detail and woodwind solo thrillingly realised, was irresistible. Inbetween, Barenboim conducted the young American cellist Alisa Weilerstein in Elgar's Cello Concerto Barenboim's approach was refreshingly un-English, a bonus in Elgar, and the sound of the orchestra in the climaxes was overwhelming.' (The Guardian)