In praise of Haitink

There was a unique event in Amsterdam last week, and the music-lovers who heard it felt a special glow. Bernard Haitink returned to the Concertgebouw, the orchestra with which he will forever be associated, and which he first conducted 50 years ago, to celebrate his ‘golden anniversary’ of music-making with a pair of symphonies by the ‘house’ composer, Gustav Mahler.

Since orchestral life became organised 150 years ago, and the conductor assumed a more prominent role than mere time-beater, no person has worked with an ensemble for 50 years, so it really was a celebration. The programme Haitink conducted in November 1956, when he stood in for Carlo Maria Giulini, featured, somewhat improbably, a Cherubini Mass and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. This time he occupied more familiar territory, for no orchestra has a more distinguished Mahler tradition than the Concertgebouw, and perhaps only one conductor, Claudio Abbado, is as well versed in this music as Haitink.

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In the first half he conducted Das Lied von der Erde, Mahler’s song-cycle symphony, with the Swedish alto Anna Larsson, rather more convincing than the American tenor Robert Dean Smith (even though she buried her head in the score during the Abschied). For the Fourth Symphony, with its child’s view of Paradise, conductor and orchestra were joined by the German soprano Christine Schafer. It was a long night, carried live on Dutch television, and a memorable one.

The musicians played ravishingly, right across the stage, and the audience played its part, too, listening intently and responding with a warmth that never became indulgent. It was a moving evening, with lengthy, heartfelt ovations, but not a sentimental one. Well done, the Dutch.

While the Concertgebouw develops afresh under the baton of ‘Magnificent’ Mariss Jansons, Haitink, who was its music director between 1964 and 1988, remains honorary conductor.