A Fortuitous Collaboration: Barenboim & Levine

On Monday night, Carnegie Hall saw a meeting of two giants of the classical world. Conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim joined forces with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its musical director James Levine for a program of music by Schoenberg and Beethoven. In true classical fashion, these titans didn't clash-they harmonized.

New Yorkers gave a warm welcome to Maestro Levine in his first Carnegie Hall appearance, which followed a shoulder injury last spring that left him out of commission for several months. First on the program was a piece that set the tone for the rest of the evening-Schoenberg's ever-popular "Verklärte Nacht" (Transfigured Night), an early string sextet that the composer later arranged for a string orchestra.

In Levine's hands, the piece reached Straussian proportions of rich sentimentality. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect was the performance's near-transparency, a result of crisp playing and refinement primarily found in small ensembles. Riveting glissandos surged forth from the violins, with playful shades from the violas and raspy imitations from the cellos. Levine explored the magical transformation implied in the work's title with its various guises and permutations.

Barenboim took a highly lyrical approach to Schoenberg's rather erratic work. He played with a supple style that sounded alternately classical and jazzy. With verve and pizzazz, the iconoclasm of Barenboim found a perfect partner in crime in Levine, who playfully integrated the soloist into the orchestra. It was a collaboration in the fullest sense of the word. The idiosyncrasy of Barenboim's interpretation, which ranged from the mock-heroic to the carnivalesque, had much to do with his flexibility, which he maintained as he frantically turned the pages of his score.

Barenboim required no score for the evening's final work, Beethoven's "Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major." The performance was marked by a remarkable lack of tension between soloist and orchestra. Barenboim-one of the greatest living Beethoven pianists-played with remarkable agility, clarity, and poise. The dynamic levels were sound, allowing for clear transmission across all lines. Barenboim's trills melted into themes that were gently swept up by the orchestra. In the more intricate passages, his detailed and precise playing evoked his extraordinary recording of the Diabelli Variations. In the solemn andante, strings sounding like gunshots cut through the serenity of the piano's opening statement. The remainder of this curious movement could even be considered spiritual. The famous finale started out playfully, and Barenboim, playing broadly, found ways to make this well-known sound surprising and fresh. Neither Levine nor Barenboim was given to pomposity or an upstaging of the entire evening, leaving the audience pleased to enjoy the fruits of such a fortuitous collaboration.