tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post4980721016668990504..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Haitink tops the BBC Music Magazine AwardsDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-71694437308614176732018-04-20T19:04:30.507+01:002018-04-20T19:04:30.507+01:00I believe, though it's not official, that he h...I believe, though it's not official, that he has decided on a cut-off point. But there will still be informal engagements. Anyway, a year is a long time when you're 89, so let's hope all goes well.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-73840304053485879792018-04-20T18:08:23.189+01:002018-04-20T18:08:23.189+01:00Touches of Klemperer conducting Barenboim in the B...Touches of Klemperer conducting Barenboim in the Beethoven concertos, maybe? I'm sure orchestras won't let BH off the hook that lightly if, as we all very much hope, he's still able to commit. JohnGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-16288722097114512042018-04-20T17:43:54.886+01:002018-04-20T17:43:54.886+01:00Shall we just say that when you're that great ...Shall we just say that when you're that great age working with soloists who have pronounced ideas of their own, other than those who've known you for decades, isn't so easy. Be sure to book, if you can - are you 'John in the Lot' rather than John Graham, or another? - for BH's 90th birthday concerts with the LSO next March. He has no official plans beyond those and a concert or two with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-90584809839705380462018-04-20T17:06:12.920+01:002018-04-20T17:06:12.920+01:00Yes, David, and now that I remember (also correcte...Yes, David, and now that I remember (also corrected my memory: it's Mozart's 27th not 25th) there's a also a story in that collection where the protagonist is obviously supposed to be the elderly Sibelius. Barnes writes well on music, it seems to me, though it's always very hard to write about the nature of inspiration - which may be why a short story about a composer who's largely given up composing isn't a bad idea! I enjoyed The Noise of Time, though again I think it's stronger on the historical circumstances than on creativity or verifiable 'fact' about inner lives - possibly again why Shostakovich is evoked rather than explicitly identified. But some subtle touches - I love how it begins and ends with a very Shostakovichian touch, a legless beggar on a station platform. Not just Mahler there but Mussorgsky too - surely a cameo from the holy fool in DS's beloved Boris Godunov...? <br /><br />The more we can get from Haitink these days the better, I say, given that he doesn't rush into things for the sake of it. I loved that Mahler 3 from Munich, and the recently issued Bruckner 6 was great too. Mozart piano concertos, hmmm?JohnGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-11096252626167288682018-04-20T08:50:46.183+01:002018-04-20T08:50:46.183+01:00Right, I'll get hold of that. Haven't yet ...Right, I'll get hold of that. Haven't yet dared to read JB's Shostakovich book but them wot know say it's good. Interesting chat last night with Martin James Bartlett at the Proms launch - BBC Young Musicians are figuring in a big get-together, one of the few novel ideas this year - about his working with Haitink on a Mozart piano concerto. Interesting is all I'll say...Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-29654388716925164092018-04-20T07:40:41.777+01:002018-04-20T07:40:41.777+01:00An entirely inconsequential addition to the BH/Sho...An entirely inconsequential addition to the BH/Shostakovich thread, but there's a wickedly funny (as I remember it) Julian Barnes short story - 'Vigilance' (in The Lemon Table) - about a rather uptight RFH-goer at an LPO concert conducted by BH with Mozart's 25th Piano Concerto and Shostakovich 4. Audience coughing is the issue! JohnGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-13638297796303038532018-04-17T21:28:01.360+01:002018-04-17T21:28:01.360+01:00Talking about Haitink's Bavarian Radio Symphon...Talking about Haitink's Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Mahler Three, the orchestra's then leader, Radoslaw Szulc, talked about 'Fernhoren' - the ability to grasp everything from a great height. He always seems to have been like that. There's more in the article to mark the disc's award of BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Year in the issue just out.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-89169674413804679812018-04-17T02:42:25.379+01:002018-04-17T02:42:25.379+01:00Your observation that Haitink comes at Shostakovic...Your observation that Haitink comes at Shostakovich from the bigger picture of Mahler makes such a lot of sense. While I wish I had a better musical memory of live performances, I do recall thinking at the time that Haitink had a grasp of the 15th that would be hard to best.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-88147372405942844782018-04-16T08:40:46.593+01:002018-04-16T08:40:46.593+01:00I often thought of Haitink as the supremely cultur...I often thought of Haitink as the supremely cultured musician for whom what Colin Davis rather sweepingly called 'circus music' (ie the 20th century Russians) might have been a stretch too far. But of course he came at it from Mahler, and he always saw the bigger picture. His recording of the Fifteenth still remains my favourite, not least because the sound is so superb for the whirrings and clickings at the end. Must try his Fourth for size too. <br /><br />On NY audiences (assuming that's where you saw BH and the LPO) and Shostakovich, I must have mentioned Mark Wigglesworth telling me about the massive walk-out during his performance of Shostakovich 14. Yelena Prokina and Sergei Leiferkus were so disheartened that before the second performance he made a little speech before the performance telling the audience what to expect. At the word 'long' he swears he saw the audience all look at their watches. There's always a social engagement to go on to after a concert in NY.<br /><br />Sadly I don't think the Haitink sessions were recorded. A film crew was present at the last session, and put together a little film, but sadly that was when he said least and let the young conductors just conduct. He was indeed everything you say, and I've been looking at conductors in a new light since - knowing that Rafael Payare would have come in for some strict advice, hearing in my transcription of Robin Ticciati's interview, especially his close collaboration with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra players, everything Haitink advised about trusting the orchestra's experience.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-59928154236098476232018-04-16T00:16:21.101+01:002018-04-16T00:16:21.101+01:00Footnote re Haitink: I was trying to remember what...Footnote re Haitink: I was trying to remember what he conducted the one time I've been lucky enough to hear him conduct live. Fortunately, I made a record of it, and here's what it was, in 2013:<br /><br />Seeing and hearing Haitink conduct and the LSO perform Shostakovich’s Fourth and Fifteenth Symphonies was revelatory. Haitink and the LSO clearly care about and understand these symphonies deeply, and it showed. Some audience members found the Fourth Symphony (performed in the first of two concerts), particularly disconcerting, if measured by the cough-o-meter readings throughout. Thankfully, it seemed those who might have been disconcerted by the Fifteenth Symphony left the second concert early. We who remained were enthralled. At the end, that sublime morendo, Haitink did not immediately drop his hand. The audience heeded him, and there was silence, precious silence, before the applause.Susan Scheidhttps://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-11916935264245417982018-04-16T00:03:30.880+01:002018-04-16T00:03:30.880+01:00It’s terrific that the grand old man Haitink got h...It’s terrific that the grand old man Haitink got his due in the awards. I loved your description on TAD of his master class with young conductors—any chance the whole of it was recorded? He seemed, from your description, to be that rare combination of generous, insightful, and kind. Interesting the lean toward the French this year in the awards—as an aside, I’ve found, in these last few months, I’ve been particularly drawn to French music (often piano music of Poulenc, Tailleferre, Debussy, Ravel). Perhaps, who knows, there is something in the atmosphere!Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15674930917585246294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-67655513155313749892018-04-15T11:18:58.357+01:002018-04-15T11:18:58.357+01:00Words are always nicer than a 'like'. Than...Words are always nicer than a 'like'. Thanks, Will, as always, and likewise to you four.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-29674890975059096752018-04-15T02:09:50.723+01:002018-04-15T02:09:50.723+01:00David sadly blogspot does not include a Like butto...David sadly blogspot does not include a Like button that allows me to simply say I've been here and as always enjoyed reading you. Fondest regards to all in your corner of the universe.Willymhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03652532356102638621noreply@blogger.com