Crossing Borders: Daniel Barenboim on Music (III/III)
Music and Taboo: Wagner in Israel
Cast
Daniel Barenboim — Conductor
Pierre Boulez — Conductor
Program notes
The third and final installment of filmmaker Paul Smaczny’s documentary on Daniel Barenboim’s explorations of music and its power to cross cultural boundaries.
Over the course of his long career, Daniel Barenboim has participated in numerous fascinating cultural and political discourses: between East and West, Arabs and Israelis, Wagnerians and Holocaust survivors. In this three-part documentary, we accompany Barenboim on his exploration of the social meaning of music. Filmed conversations with celebrated colleagues like Pierre Boulez, Joschka Fischer, and Richard von Weizsäcker provide depth and context for interviews with the great artist himself. We also see Barenboim in the act as he becomes a UN Messenger of Peace, works with the West-Eastern-Divan-Orchestra, and conducts the Cairo Symphony Orchestra for the very first time.
The third part of Paul Smaczny’s documentary focuses on the Israeli taboo against performing the music of Richard Wagner, and Daniel Barenboim’s personal views on the issue. Can music as an art form be judged from a purely musical perspective or is it impossible to separate the art from the views and beliefs of its creator?
