Bruckner: Te Deum; Symphony No 9
Sally Matthews (soprano); Karen Cargill (mezzo-soprano); Eric Cutler (tenor); Alessandro Spina (bass)
London Symphony Chorus (Simon Halsey chorus director)/London Symphony Orchestra/Bernard Haitink
Although I very much hope that it will not be the case, I suspect that this might have been my final experience of Haitink in the flesh. The 'Te Deum' suffered more from the Barbican's acoustic than the symphony but not disastrously so. Nothing to say about Haitink's Bruckner 9th that hasn't been said more eloquently by others - but it somehow all seems right. I know that Petrushka, among others, has commented elsewhere on the LSO, "not being the VPO", but the LSO played with such conviction for a conductor whom they clearly venerate, especially in the adagio, that it never crossed my mind to think about any such comparison (and, in any case, I don't much like my Bruckner sleek and burnished). I left profoundly moved by the experience.
Sally Matthews (soprano); Karen Cargill (mezzo-soprano); Eric Cutler (tenor); Alessandro Spina (bass)
London Symphony Chorus (Simon Halsey chorus director)/London Symphony Orchestra/Bernard Haitink
Although I very much hope that it will not be the case, I suspect that this might have been my final experience of Haitink in the flesh. The 'Te Deum' suffered more from the Barbican's acoustic than the symphony but not disastrously so. Nothing to say about Haitink's Bruckner 9th that hasn't been said more eloquently by others - but it somehow all seems right. I know that Petrushka, among others, has commented elsewhere on the LSO, "not being the VPO", but the LSO played with such conviction for a conductor whom they clearly venerate, especially in the adagio, that it never crossed my mind to think about any such comparison (and, in any case, I don't much like my Bruckner sleek and burnished). I left profoundly moved by the experience.
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