Favourite Bernard Haitink recordings

[Alison]

Yes the Haitink Bruckner 3 is easily my favourite recorded version of that symphony.

The Concertgebouw NInth mentioned is sadly something of a rarity these days and would merit reissue.

[Alison]

Cheers Nethers, I had never thought of looking on there.

New board fully vindicated, frenchie !

[Petrushka]

Alison, as you are well aware Haitink has been the mainstay of my entire classical music existence, indeed a mainstay of life itself. There is something about a BH recording that transcends the medium. My very first foray into Mahler recordings was the 1972 Concertgebouw Mahler 1 which I bought in the same week as BH's Concertgebouw Heldenleben (Feb 1973). Treasure indeed and recordings that are special to me to this day. I followed up with Mahler 2 and have been a devoted Haitink fan ever since.

If I was going to nominate any recording, apart from the above, I'd go for the Mahler Christmas Day concerts set. Very, very special indeed.

[Richard Tarleton]

My feelings for and experience of BH closely mirror those of Petrushka and Alison, among others. My early Haitink LP's followed my concert hall experiences in the early '70's - I have several Concertgebouw recordings following hearing the same works with the LPO in the RFH - thus I have a number of Bruckner and Mahler LPs still, with Mahler 3 perhaps a stand out. In the last 10 years I've heard him conduct several other orchestras in London - RCO, LSO, VPO, BPO, CSO (and the LPO in Cardiff about 15 years ago but he seems to have little to do with today's LPO) - and I love his BPO Bruckner 7 and Mahler 3 with the BPO.

Re. his CO Heldenleben - Rodney Friend told a nice story which reflects well on BH. The LPO were also playing Heldenleben at the time, and Friend entertained hopes of a recording - and expressed his chagrin to BH when the CO version came out. BH was mortified, and rapidly scheduled Scheherezade so that RF could have a big solo outing.

Opera - it would indeed be great to have his ROH Ring on disc, not least so that one could hear that remarkable assemblage of voices again minus the appalling Richard Jones production (I saw it twice in the ROH) - though I'm not sure which performance was recorded, Alison, they were plagued with Anne Evans sickness problems? It was a superb cast.

I do have his ROH Meistersinger - again a production and cast to cherish. I saw its last outing before the House closed - there was a power failure during the prelude (they had to start again after a nail-biting interval), and Gosta Winbergh's voice was failing by the last act - but caught on a good night he was marvellous.

Oh and I have his Jenufa - has anyone mentioned that?

[HighlandDougie]

All of the above - plus his Mahler 5, my first purchase of the work, and his Mahler 9, ditto. The Debussy Nocturnes/Jeux still sounds great and the performance of Jeux, in my (un)humble opinion, never bettered. His new Bavarian Bruckner 5 is, as I've said elsewhere, really wonderful. If any BH or Bruckner fans haven't yet heard it, it's worth every penny.

[Bryn]

I still, to some extent, suffer from a formative antipathy towards BH's work. It's all down to the competition between him and Jochum re. Bruckner symphony sets in the '60s. I tooks the Jochum/Nowak side, and having thus rejected the Haitink/Haas combination, (o.k., it's not that straightforward, I know), stuch to it. Even though I got the '60s Haitink Brucker on CD many years later, I still hardly ever listen to them. Daft really. As to favourites, it has to be the Debussy recordings, especially Jeux. I tried to cure my self with his Messiaen, but that turned out not to be all I might have hoped, (Et expecto ..., bythe way). Even in Mahler is still only his 3rd, 8th and songs that I have got round to purchasing on silver disc.

[Barbirollians]

Debussy Images and a recent acquisition the Liszt Symphonic Poems set.

[PJPJ]

His RCO Bruckner 9 (second recording, digital, 1981) - intensely played with a profound sense of spirituality. A classic!

One of my top ones, too.

[Alison]

Ah, I was really hoping PJ was going to come over here. Great. Now we need Wilf.

Nethersage: I think you would like the LPO label DSCH10 from the 1985 Proms. Do persist in trying to obtain the Christmas Matinee box of Mahler symphonies be it on CD or DVD.

[Stanley Stewart]

Serendipity came to the rescue a couple of months ago when my eyes settled on a DVD (Philips) of Mahler 3 at the Berliner Philharmoniker/Haitink, December 1991, with Florence Quivar, Tolzer Knabenchor as soloists with Ernst-Senff-Chor. A spacious recording with a magnificent apotheosis on strings and brass as a conclusion. Splendid liner notes by Michael Kennedy, A Summer Noon's Dream.

[Mahlerei]

Naand, Piet

Good to see you here. :)

[mathias broucek]

Mahler 3 & 9 for me. He handles the lovely, long, slow finales so beautifully

Also his RVW symphonies are extremely classy

[Mr Pee]

Also his RVW symphonies are extremely classy

Agreed- I have that set and I don't think there's a weak link in the whole cycle. His London symphony in particular is outstanding, I think. The slow movement is simply wonderful.

[Norfolk Born]

My many happy discoveries in charity shops over the years include his recordings of the Elgar symphonies. A snip at £2.50!

[Thomas Roth]

They are so many. The Vaughan Williams cycle, Walton 1, Liszt tone Poems, Bruckner 8 & 9 second recordings (Cgo), Beethoven with LSO, Rimsky-Korsakov Sheherazade, a reissue is badly needed. His early Mendelssohn Midsummer Nights Dream is wonderful, ca 1963. Shostakovich 15, Brahms Piano concerto no 2 with VPO - marvellous conducting. Brahms first Serenade. Tchaikovsky Francesca da Rimini. Debussy Jeux, Strauss Ein Heldenleben, Cgo.

No Sibelius in his discography. Why? Does anyone know?