The Trout

I just found this good YouTube on CrooksandLiars:



The film is broken up into 9-minute segments. The full set of links:

Part 1 :: Part 2 :: Part 3 :: Part 4 :: Part 5 :: Part 6

It's a film from 1969 of Daniel Barenboim (piano), Itzhak Perlman (violin), Pinchas Zuckerman (viola), Jacqueline Du Pre (cello), and Zubin Mehta (bass) performing the Schubert Piano Quintet ("The Trout"). The first thing that struck me was how young they all looked. Barenboim, who recently left the Chicago Symphony after a 15-year stint as artistic director, still acts the same way today as he did nearly 40 years ago. The performance might be a bit long for casual viewing, but I love the clowning around backstage in Part 2. Did Perlman call Pinchas Zuckerman "Pinky?" It's like Spinal Tap with classical musicians.

Aside from Daniel Barenboim, there are some other Chicago connections... Zubin has a brother named Zarin who was once the executive director of the Ravinia Festival, where the Chicago Symphony performs during the summer. Both Perlman and Zuckerman have performed regularly at Ravinia, and I've seen the now white-haired Zuckerman conduct there. Alas, I was too young to ever see Du Pre perform before multiple sclerosis ended her career, but the cello she plays in the 1969 film now belongs to Yo-Yo Ma, founder of the Silk Road Project, which is in the middle of the yearlong Silk Road Chicago program, a collaboration with various cultural institutions in Chicago.