On this muggy, hot August evening, Berlin is not far away from Andalusia. Instead of the deciduous trees around the forest stage, you suddenly see a Moorish garden with artistic water features in your imagination. The program with which Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra are making a stop could hardly be more appropriate than it is now. Shortly after 1900, Spain was also a place of longing for Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy. Ravel’s “Rapsodie espagnole” begins dreamily and enigmatically, a tender declaration of love without any folklore clichés.
Barenboim and his musicians create the “Prélude à la nuit” in subtle shades of sound. A fiery fandango with castanet accompaniment flashes out of the second movement, “Malagueña”, before the mood shifts back to melancholy. Debussy’s “Ibéria” also unfolds magic.
While thousands of listeners soak up the scents of the Spanish night, there is a concentrated silence all around. There is no clapping between movements, the thread never breaks. Barenboim, who had to take a long break in the spring due to illness, is gratefully welcomed.
The undisputed star of the evening, however, is audience favorite Lang Lang, who is making his debut with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. With great virtuosity and calculation, he excels as the piano soloist in Manuel de Falla’s “Nights in Spanish Gardens”. A home game for the orchestra, so to speak, because the summer rehearsals are always held near Seville.
Lang Lang sets distinctive rhythmic accents, a shimmering sound of strings fills the air. Impressionist influences mix with spirited Spanish folklore and its Middle Eastern heritage. As an encore, the pianist will perform the “Feuertanz” from de Falla’s ballet “El amor brujo”. The audience cheers and jumps up from their seats, even after Ravel’s “Boléro” at the very end.
Lang Lang is a stage animal. On this evening, however, the young wind soloists, sitting on the much-discussed edge of a chair, are more likely to touch you. Flutes, oboes and cor anglais unite in a dreamlike dialogue. The fact that the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra performs together with members from Israel and Arab countries in these troubled times is anything but a matter of course. Because the Middle East remains a powder keg.
