In the Beginning was Sound
The Reith Lectures
BBC
4.2 • 770 Ratings
🗓️ 7 April 2006
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This year's lecturer is Daniel Barenboim, who has become known as one of the most versatile pianists of his generation. His skill as a musician and a conductor has led him to world recognition and the appointment as Chief Conductor for Life by the Staatskapelle Berlin. He has also won a Grammy for his recording of Wagner's Tannhäuser and received the Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize for his work with the Staatskapelle Berlin.
In the first of his five Reith Lectures, Daniel Barenboim explores the physical phenomenon of sound. He contends that: In the beginning was sound.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a podcast from the archives of the BBC Ruth Lectures. |
| 0:04.4 | This lecture in the series, In the Beginning, was sound, given by Daniel Barrenboim, |
| 0:09.7 | was originally broadcast in 2006. |
| 0:12.8 | Hello and welcome to the Cadogan Hall in West London, |
| 0:16.1 | where for the first time in the 58-year history of this event, |
| 0:19.7 | our Reith Lecturer is a conductor. He began his |
| 0:23.0 | musical career as a pianist. This is how he sounded when he was making his debut here in London |
| 0:28.9 | exactly half a century ago. He gave a concert at the Royal Festival on Tuesday. And what did you |
| 0:35.1 | play then? Mozart concert in the major And then have you done anything else |
| 0:38.6 | Why have you been here? |
| 0:39.0 | Yes, I gave also a sight like the Woodmo Hall |
| 0:41.0 | Well, there you are, here's a young man of 13 who's come over |
| 0:44.3 | And we thought you'd like to meet him tonight |
| 0:46.8 | What are you going to play tonight for us? |
| 0:48.4 | You're going to play some shopper? |
| 0:49.7 | So we'll hear this chopin now. |
| 0:51.3 | Here is Daniel Barabon. 13-year-old Daniel Barronboyne, playing Chopin in London in 1956. |
| 1:18.4 | He'd given his first concert in Buenos Aires at the age of seven, |
| 1:22.2 | and at the age of 11 he'd been declared a phenomenon by the legendary conductor Wilhelm Fort Fengler. His life has been |
| 1:29.9 | and continues to be saturated with music. A virtuoso at the piano, he later became a supreme |
| 1:35.8 | master of the podium. Currently, he's music director of both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra |
| 1:41.6 | and the Berlin State Opera. |
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