Barenboim's WEDO Beethoven Cycle

Looks Like I Picked the Wrong Month to Quit Sky+

The historic week of Proms with Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, led by Daniel's son Michael, is almost here.

His dynamic West–Eastern Divan Orchestra – famously bringing together Arab and Israeli players to form less 'an orchestra for peace' than 'an orchestra against ignorance' – goes far beyond the symbolic in its goal of building bridges through music. (BBC)

They'll be performing the entire cycle of nine Beethoven symphonies, starting this Friday July 20, logically enough with the First and Second, and finishing next Friday with the almighty Ninth - which incidentally hands over to the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games.

Why is it such a historic cycle? The last time this was done within a single Proms season, was exactly 70 years ago, by Sir Henry Wood himself. Well, not just himself... come on, you know what I mean.

At the risk of receiving a BBC cease-and-desist, I need to put this little table just here: (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Prom #	Performance Date/Time	Programme	Broadcast Date/Time	Channel
9	Fri 20 at 7.30pm	Beethoven - Symphony No. 1 in C (25 min) Boulez - Dérive 2 (45 min) Interval Beethoven - Symphony No. 2 in D (35 min)	Live!	BBC Four
10	Sat 21 at 7.30pm	Beethoven - Symphony No. 4 in Bb (35 min) Boulez - Dialogue de l'ombre double (20 min) Interval Beethoven - Symphony No. 3 in Eb 'Eroica' (50 min)	Sat 21 at 8pm	BBC Four
12	Mon 23 at 7.30pm	Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 in F 'Pastoral' (40 min) Boulez - Mémoriale ('…explosante-fixe…' Originel) (8 min) Interval Boulez - Messagesquisse (8 min) Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 in Cm (30 min)	Thu 26 at 7.30pm	BBC Four
13	Tue 24 at 7pm	Beethoven - Symphony No. 8 in F (25 min) Boulez - Anthèmes 2 (25 min) Interval Beethoven - Symphony No. 7 in A (35 min)	Fri 27 at 7.30pm	BBC Four
18	Fri 27 at 6.30pm	Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 in Dm 'Choral' (77 min)	Sat 28 at 8pm	BBC Two BBC HD

Daniel Barenboim photo courtesy of Wikipedia.