By the time I learned last night of the death of Bernard Haitink, there was little I could do about it. I had had a late dinner and watched a movie, and it was all I could do to brush my teeth and struggle through a chapter in bed.
With the dawn of another day, I can share my recollection of working as a clerk at Sam Goody in the 1980s – essentially signing my paycheck back over to the company in exchange for CDs – and the piecemeal acquisition of my first Shostakovich cycle, with Haitink conducting. Really, in the early days of compact disc, if you wanted all the symphonies, there weren’t any other options. I’ve since acquired complete cycles by Kondrashin and Barshai, and powerful one-offs by any number of other conductors, but I’ve always hung on to Haitink. He also took a remarkable interest in Vaughan Williams, recording all the symphonies, unusual for a major conductor outside of England – especially so for someone from mainland Europe.
For many, Haitink’s memory will be indivisible from his long association with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of his native Amsterdam. He also held important conducting posts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1967-1989), Glyndebourne Opera (1978-1988), the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (1987-2002), the Staatskapelle Dresden (2002-2004), and the Chicago Symphony (2006-2010). Chicago wanted him longer, but he declined, citing his advancing age. His final concert was in Lucerne, on September 6, 2019, with the Vienna Philharmonic.
As a music-lover, concertgoer, and record collector for over 40 years, I am sorry to lose anyone as prominent as Haitink has been. He was one of the last lions of the podium of his generation. It’s funny that he received so much recognition for his performances of the core Germanic repertoire (especially Brahms and Beethoven), since I mostly found his recordings in this department to be rather uninteresting. He did, however, often deliver in unexpected places.
He received nine Grammy nominations, for a complete Beethoven cycle, Beethoven’s “Missa solemnis,” Brahms’ “A German Requiem,” and Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” but also for recordings of Vaughan Williams’ “A Sea Symphony” and “Sinfonia Antartica” and Holst’s “The Planets.” He won twice, for Janacek’s opera “Jenufa” in 2003 and again in 2008 for a later recording of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4.
Here are some links to a few of my favorite Haitink recordings:
A live performance of Shostakovich Symphony No. 15
Debussy’s “Images”
A concert broadcast of John McCabe’s “Chagall Windows”
Since today is Liszt’s birthday, from Haitink’s complete recordings of the symphonic poems, “Die Ideale”
Finally, the European Union Youth Orchestra giving its all in a Haitink specialty, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7
Bernard Haitink was 92 years-old. Thank you, Maestro, and R.I.P.
