A very special collaboration of two exceptional artists: Not only do Daniel Barenboim and Mariss Jansons both celebrate a milestone birthday just a few months apart from each other, but Barenboim joins Jansons and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (SOBR) ten years after his first performance as piano soloist with them. From the first note onwards, the mutual respect, which these giants of classical music have for each other, is noticeable. Together they present a stunning rendition of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto. Jansons, Chief Conductor of the SOBR, opts for a gentle yet purposeful flow, thus enabling Barenboim to demonstrate that he is a clear, powerful narrator, particularly in the lyrical passages of the first movement. Hardly any other musician has studied the works of Beethoven as thoroughly as Daniel Barenboim and he turns the second movement into something special indeed: The calmness and intimacy of the Adagio is second to none. “No other piano player creates such a magical atmosphere in the quiet passages; no other is capable of stopping time hypnotically like this.” (Abendzeitung) With the support of the excellent SOBR, one of the world’s finest orchestras, which performs at the highest level here, the Fifth Piano Concerto becomes a celebration of Beethoven’s music. Thanking the audience of the Munich Philharmonie for their enthusiasm, Barenboim gives the hauntingly beautiful Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy as encore, “a contrasting piano miniature which seems magical.” (Bachtrack) The second part of the night is devoted to Sergei Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony. According to the former enfant terrible of Russian music himself, Prokofiev created a piece “on the greatness of the human mind” and “an expression of an optimistic attitude towards life.” The composer’s search for a clearer, more substantial language coincided with a rejection of atonality and a commitment to folksy, melodic music. Here, the SOBR soars to great achievements in sound, creating a finale “with vertiginous vehemence and power of sound” (Bachtrack).