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Bernard Haitink dies at the age of 92

K

kimmiles

pfm Member
Surely the saddest news for quite some time!
It was his recordings with the wonderful Concertgebouw that first sparked my interest in Mahler and Bruckner.
Who cares if they weren’t the greatest interpretations? They were for me!
RIP BH
 
One of my favourite conductors. Always sounds ‘right’ to my mind. I love his Mahler and Bruckner. An amazing legacy, just so many fabulous Philips label albums. RIP.
 
Conductors often seem to have a long life - must be extra fulfilment or something. 92 - a good age and well done chap!
 
All of my LPs of Mahler and Bruckner in the 1970s had him as a conductor. The CD boxes of the same performances are often played to this day. RIP
 
Shostakovich 15 with LPO going on now.

Bruckner 5 with BRSO will get played later - a stupendous performance (though Haitink's slowdown for the big coda of the finale annoys me a bit compared to other conductors!)

I think I only managed to see him once - Shostakovich 4th with the EU Youth Orchestra in 1997. Wonderful.
 
Great conductor and also apparently, a very decent and humble man. I grew up with his Mahler performances. Saw him several times, last occasion being a concert performance of Walkure, some 20 years or so ago. I shall dip into one of his Mahler 9 recordings later Today.
 
I shall have Bruckner 8 with the ECYO at the Concertgebouw from 1989 tonight, courtesy of my friend John Berky at the abruckner.com website:

https://www.abruckner.com/downloads/downloadofthemonth/june17/

92 is a fair old age; and he died peacefully and leaves a legacy which makes him (for the time being, at least) immortal. I'd be content with a fraction of that.

His 1960s Concertgebouw Mahler 3 is unsurpassed (and has the finest orchestral solo trombone playing I have ever heard). The recording which for me most neatly encapsulates his greatness, though, is in slightly unexpected repertoire: Liszt's Les Preludes with the LPO in 1968. The sense of dignified "rightness" of the final peroration makes all other, flashier, performances irrelevant.
 
Nic Robinson said:
Not Mahler nor Bruckner, but I love this record.
Screenshot 2021-10-23 at 22.19.16 by Nicholas Robinson, on Flickr
Click to expand...

Indeed. Haitink's recording of La Mer is the one for me. And his Paris Orchestra recording of Pelleas et Melisande is very good too.
As is his Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony and Strauss Alpensinfonie. There was also a highly regarded recording of Britten's Peter Grimes. So not just Bruckner and Mahler.

However I have to say I found his Beethoven and Brahms recordings worthy, but a bit dull.
 
It seemed he would go on forever- he didn’t look his 92 years. Remarkably, he suffered from stage fright throughout his entire life, often unable to eat on the day of a performance due to anxiety and aggravated by relentless self-criticism. It’s noteworthy that he survived the stress of this.
Two of his live performances stick in my imagination- his 1998 Royal Opera Don Carlos with an all star cast: Thomas Hampton, Karina Matilla, Violeta Urmana and Feruccio Furlanetto as Philip II. The second was accompanying Andreas Schaffer in a Beethoven concerto where the atmosphere was incredibly frosty between them. They wouldn’t look at each other at the end and I was surprised to learn later that they were very close friends.
RIP
 
alanbeeb said:
Shostakovich 15 with LPO going on now.

Bruckner 5 with BRSO will get played later - a stupendous performance (though Haitink's slowdown for the big coda of the finale annoys me a bit compared to other conductors!)

I think I only managed to see him once - Shostakovich 4th with the EU Youth Orchestra in 1997. Wonderful.
Click to expand...
Trying the RCO 15th. Always loved the Decca performances but this is something else.Wonderful orchestral playing and more subtlety.
 
I remember when I first became engaged with classical music, there were several go to conductors that I would collect. I knew they would be a reliable starting point where the performance would be distinguished. Alongside Szell and Abbado was Haitink. I personally think he is underrated. A low key conductor who led and recorded with the finest orchestras and produces a wide ranging catalogue.He was often described as measured but he almost always held the line and the tension.
 
Tonight listed to Haitink's 1980 recording of Shostakovich 14th with the Concertgebouw, with then-newly-weds Julia Varady and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau singing the vocal parts.... what a haunting piece it is.
It was premiered in UK in 1970 - conducted by Benjamin Britten. What a pedigree.

This is being performed in Edinburgh tomorrow night by the SCO conducted by Mark Wigglesworth... but it sold out before I realised :(

Now listening to Haitink's 1960s Bruckner 1 with the Concertgebouw. Maybe the best recording available.
 
alanbeeb said:
Now listening to Haitink's 1960s Bruckner 1 with the Concertgebouw. Maybe the best recording available.
Click to expand...

I find these older Haitink Concertgebouw recordings more difficult to listen to compares to later recordings. They are sharper somehow, the trumpets are also more present and a bit overblowing the rest.

I’ll try to find the recording you are referring to and give it a listen.
 
lagavullin10y said:
I find these older Haitink Concertgebouw recordings more difficult to listen to compares to later recordings. They are sharper somehow, the trumpets are also more present and a bit overblowing the rest.

I’ll try to find the recording you are referring to and give it a listen.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean about the sound... It's a bit brash. But to my ears that suits the performances where the forward momentum and propulsion are always going, which I think really helps in the earlier Bruckner symphonies.

I had never been able to like or understand the second symphony until I heard Haitink's 1960s version.
 
Very sad. I like very much his Mahler, Bruckner, Shostakovich. I heard him live a few years ago, it was Bruckner no.9, best performance I’ve ever heard.
RIP.
 
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