Exception to the rule ... Daniel Barenboim at the Royal Festival Hall. Photograph: Monika Rittershaus
Last week in the Washington Post the American pianist Leon Fleisher described his discomfort on being invited to a White House reception. The reception marked an award given to him by the Kennedy Center. Though thrilled by the award, Fleisher had been "horrified by many of President Bush's policies", and considered staying away from the White House. Finally he felt obliged to attend, but did so "wearing a peace symbol around my neck and a purple ribbon on my lapel, at once showing support for our young men and women in the armed services and calling for their earliest return home."
Many musicians must have asked themselves whether they could have followed his example. We argue about whether the arts are above politics. Should artists cut themselves off; keep themselves in ignorance of worldly affairs in order to remain pure? Or is art at its greatest when it emerges from serious engagement with the world's problems? If we insist on remaining "above politics", do we risk being used as propaganda tools by cynical politicians? Could a political protest harm our careers? Many musicians find life hard enough without knowingly doing something to make it harder.
Moreover, many musicians are held back from making political gestures because they do not act alone. It's difficult enough for a soloist to speak up, but most musicians belong to bands, chamber groups, ensembles and orchestras. Taking an individual stand feels impossible because of the ramifications for the whole group. You would force them either to stand with you or disown you, and they might not even consider the issue important. The reality of working in a team usually means that you have to swallow your own misgivings.
As a classical musician, you also wonder if your protest would have any impact. A little while ago I worried aloud on Comment is Free about the amount that musicians are flying around the world. Bloggers queued up to inform me that classical musicians are so irrelevant and unimportant that nobody notices or cares what they do. We have the example of Barenboim to contradict that view, but most of us can't pretend that the world is waiting with bated breath for our political gestures. It's just down to individual conscience.
A couple of years back I was asked to review a remarkable CD marking Leon Fleisher's return to playing with two hands after more than thirty years of struggling with dystonia, a muscle disability probably brought on by over-practising. For a long time, he had played with his left hand only, using the enforced lull in concert activity to develop a distinguished career as teacher and conductor. It was extremely touching to hear his return to playing with two hands, and almost more touching to read that he had said, "Suddenly I realised that the most important thing in my life was not playing with two hands. It was music."
After such an experience, it's hardly surprising that Fleisher has developed an unusual fortitude of mind. As he said in his article, he is nearly 80 years old and has realised that while art is long, life is short. "Perhaps speaking about my internal struggle will loosen the ties that bind future honorees- not to mention the generations of artists they mentor and for which they serve as models - from the code of silence that has pervaded this pinnacle of artistic recognition." His example is inspiring.
