Bernard Haitink, R.I.P.

It is interesting to me that in the early vinyl days the Philips Haitink Concertgebouw recordings were often considered dull.  But as analog equipment became more sophisticated (somewhat after the analog golden age) they started sounding better and better.  So too when digital developed enough to do these recordings justice.  As the NY Times obit headlined, he was the, "Conductor Who Let Music Speak for Itself."  And so our appreciation of what he accomplished grew.  RIP.

As melm sez... Philips continues to be one of my favorite labels.

R.I.P.

The Phillips label of course has been subsumed into a larger label under the Decca banner. When Haitink and Phillips were in their heyday, with seemingly a new release every few weeks, I was a cash poor student and those lps were the most expensive.  I bought a few but it seemed a sacrilege to subject that pristine quiet vinyl to the torture of my cheap turn table. The ones I did purchase I would obsess over cleaning, rechecking the anti skate, trying different tracking weights, etc.  inevitably they would get scuffed up and it would always feel like a friend had died.  I therefore missed out on most of his recordings unless they showed up in the overflow bins of the stores, a rare circumstance.    With CDs being repackaged at bargain basement rates I have caught up with many recordings from those days and marvel anew at the partnership of Haitink and the Concertgebouw.  Such a range of Orchestral Color.

Yes, arguably the greatest conductor this  country has ever had. I grew up with his performances of the Mahler symphonies on the annual Christmas Matinee in the 1970's, broadcast live on national television. Treasured memories for sure.

Some people may not be aware that the typical Philips orchestral sound in the 70's was as much the result of their own  engineering priorities as of the unique characteristics of the Concertgebouw. That space has a miraculous capacity to sound glowingly warm, while at the same time illuminating every little sonic detail. Philips recordings tended to emphasize the hall's warmth, often at the expense of detail. Decca recordings with Haitink's successor Chailly from the 1980's had a different approach, less of the warmth and more of the 'pin drop' detail retrieval. The industry's switch to digital recording that happened around that time may have played a part in that as well. The Concertgebouw was perhaps one of the very few concert halls in the world that actually benefited early digital technology.

By the end of the analogue era Philips finally did nail it with the recording of the orchestral works of Debussy, partly made just prior to Haitink's departure as chief conductor. While 1977's La Mer is still overly lush and soft, 1980's Jeux and Nocturnes have that warm glow AND illuminate every musical detail, no matter how small. The difference is overwhelming. While Haitink is not generally associated with French music, to me this represents his finest hour as a conductor.

I played the whole set again today in his memory and can most 'warmly' recommend it to any music lover.