Barenboim defies Israeli 'ban' on Wagner

Conductor Daniel Barenboim faced heckles after he played music by Hitler’s favourite composer during a concert at the Israel Festival - having earlier agreed not to do so.

The piece was played as an encore at the concert in Jerusalem last night and the conductor and the Berlin Statskapelle received a standing ovation from most of the audience, but angry shouts from a vocal minority.

The encore was from the first act of Richard Wagner’s opera Die Walkure (Ride of the Valkyries).

Music from the opera was featured in the original programme, with three singers, including the Placido Domingo.

But after protests from Holocaust survivors and pressure from politicians, the management asked Barenboim to choose an alternative offering.

Barenboim expressed regret and the orchestra played Schumann’s 4th Symphony and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring instead.

But at the end of the concert Barenboim asked the audience if they wanted him to play the Wagner piece after all.

Most of them responded with loud applause, but Penina Pely, a lecturer in Judaism, shouted ‘‘It’s a disgrace.’’

‘‘It’s the music of the concentration camps,’’ another protester shouted.

Speaking in Hebrew, Barenboim appealed to the protesters to let the majority hear what they wish.

‘‘This is my personal encore to them. You can be angry with me, but please don’t be angry with the orchestra or the festival management.’’

As the orchestra began playing, protesters banged doors and shouted ‘‘No’’, but the interruptions ceased after a few minutes and the playing of the work was completed without further mishap.

Wagner died 50 years before Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, but his music inspired Nazi cultural propaganda.

For over 50 years, there has been an informal ban on public performance of his works in Israel, although it is occasionally played on Israel state radio.