It was a strange coming-together of events. Daniel Barenboim used his acceptance speech for a Lifetime of Achievement at this year's Gramophone Awards to announce that he was temporarily stepping back from active music-making owing to ‘a serious neurological condition’.
A multitasking musician like few others, Barenboim is 80 on 15th November. Being asked to write the cover feature on him for Awards issue turned out to be both an exploration of an extraordinary career and a
