Haitink retires after 65 years conducting

The Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink first raised a baton with the Netherlands radio orchestra in 1954. He became chief conductor of the Concertgebouw in 1961, followed by similar positions with the London Philharmonic, Glyndebourne, the Royal Opera House, Dresden Staatskapelle and the Chicago Symphony.

He announced early in 2019 "Listen I’m 90. And when I say I’m taking a sabbatical, it’s because I don’t want to say, I’m stopping. I don’t feel like all those official goodbyes, but the fact is that I will no longer conduct.“

Music critic Norman Lebrecht writes "For 65 years he has been the hardest-working and most reliable member of his vocation, unfailingly well-prepared, frequently inspirational. He will be universally missed."

On August 20 he conducted for the last time in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. He has been a regular conductor at the Proms and at his last concert in the Royal Albert Hall on September 3rd he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

On September 6 he gave his final concert at the Lucerne Festival, a city which is now his home.

Haitink will be remembered for bringing the music Mahler and Bruckner to a wide audience through his concerts and recordings.

To mark his retirement Beulah has released four albums recordings made when he was in his thirties and newly appointed to his post with the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

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What the Critics Say

"Aksel Schiøtz’s Schöne Müllerin can be obtained on Volume 2 of the Danacord series devoted to him, but it’s less generously coupled there with Grieg. I hadn’t encountered either of these recordings before but enjoyed them very much in these clean transfers. I tend to avoid recordings prior to the advent of LP unless they are very special, which is exactly what this Müllerinis, an ideal adjunct to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s Schubert, also with Gerald Moore which, nonetheless, continues to be my benchmark in various forms.

"Dichterliebecan be found on another Danacord CD but, again, the Beulah transfer offers the music in very fine form and the two classic Schubert and Schumann recordings make for an ideal coupling and excellent value. I’ve seen it suggested that Schiøtz’s Dichterliebeis even finer than his Müllerin. I’m not going to get into that debate; I’ll merely say that this, too, rates alongside my favourite recordings.

"It goes almost without saying that Gerald Moore provides the ideal accompaniment throughout. You would hardly mistake these for recordings made in the stereo era, but the sound quality would still have been creditable in the mono LP era and the transfer loses the surface noise without detriment to the recorded range. "

Brian Wilson at Musicweb International

"How do you choose just one album of essential Wagner? For starters, I wouldn’t like to have to try–like the Irish joke; if I were going there, I wouldn’t start from here. Granted, however, that I did try, these selections would all have offered themselves as possibilities, perhaps with the substitution for Wotan’s Farewell of Georg Solti, either his first recording of the Todesverkündigungand Act 3, or his complete recording.

"I’m especially pleased to see an extract from Rudolf Kempe’s Meistersinger which, if only it had just made it to stereo, would have been an abiding classic.

"The recordings have been well transferred, though the opening Meistersinger Overture has come out sounding a little shriller and coarser than I remember. As usual, the lossless version from Qobuz is more recommendable than the mp3 alternatives at the same price of £7.99.By contrast, the Wesendonck Liedersound better than I remember them on the Decca Ace of Diamonds reissue. Flagstad’s voice was then well past its best, but these recordings get to the heart of the music."

Brian Wilson at Musicweb International

"Two classic recordings and a cover shot of the Settle to Carlisle railway.

"I’m especially pleased to see an extract from Rudolf Kempe’s Meistersinger which, if only it had just made it to stereo, would have been an abiding classic.

"The Beulah transfer has improved the Brahms, originally a rather shrill Pye Golden Guinea offering. No amount of remastering, however, can disguise the slightly backward positioning of the soloists in the balance. "

Brian Wilson at Musicweb International

"Lovers of Military Band Music will need no urging to go for Beulah’s latest release: Military Marches from the Band of the Coldstream Guards/Major Douglas Pope and the Band of HM Royal Marines/Lt. Colonel Sir Vivian Dunn (2PS32ADD/stereo [59:17]).If you followed the review of Beulah’s Classic Marches this offers more of the same in the same high quality transfers.

The Marines, released by HMV in 1963,open the proceedings with:
Under the White Ensign [3:03]
L’entente cordiale[2:46]
Semper Fidelis[2:41]
On the Square [2:57]
No Hiding Place [2:42]
Army of the Nile [3:17]

Followed by The Guards, recorded by Decca in 1958, in:
Voice of the Guns [3:12]
With Sword and Lance [2:34]
Le père de la victoire[3:28]
Light of Foot [2:52]
Le régiment de Sambre et Meuse[2:52]
Under the Banner Victory [2:43]
Anchors Aweigh[3:09]
Entry of the Gladiators [2:35]
Københavner March [2:26]
Radetzky March [2:39]
A Frangesa![2:18]
El Abanico[3:31]
National Emblem [2:51]
The Consort [4:41]

Brian Wilson at Musicweb International