Peace at last: Haitink ends his Concertgebouw huff
mainAlmost two years ago, the veteran Dutch conductor said he would never work again with the Concertgebouw after being ‘virtually humilated‘ by its administration in the orchestra’s 125th anniversary season.
Bernard Haitink, 86. was music conductor of the C’bouw from 1961 to 1988 and has been feuding on and off with the institution ever since. Happily, peace has finally broken out and Haitink will conduct the Concertgeouw once more next season.
Haitink will celebrate with the Orchestra their 60 years anniversary
Press statement here:
http://www.concertgebouworkest.nl/en/News/Press/2015-2016/Press-statement-Royal-Concertgebouw-Orchestra-and-Bernard-Haitink/
Good for Haitink, for the Orchestra, for the public and for classical music!
Good indeed! The orchestra owes so much to Haitink and vice-versa. When Haitink conducts an orchestra, it is a red-letter day for its musicians and for audiences, even at his advanced age.
‘Bout time! Wonderful!
And just in time, since Haitink’s performances just recently have started to reveal a little dip in energy, noticeable even in comparison to his work only a couple of years ago.
Good news. Haitink is for me the best conductor in the world ( with Boulez – who doesn’t conduct any more) despite having been forgotten in a recent list of the best conductors of 2015. The Concertgebouw is also in my opinion the best european orchestra, above the Vienna Phil., the Staatskappelle, the SOBR and the Berlin Phil, in that order. I was lucky enough to heard them all live several times in the last three years.
Is he conducting Maxwell Davies’s St Thomas Wake, foxtrot for orchestra ?
Saw him conduct last Friday at the Proms in London. That concert was recorded, and will be broadcast tonight on BBC. Need to check the time. Lovely concert of Scubert and Mozart, and no histrionics.
Yes, I can spell Schubert byt the way 🙂
… by the way … typing too fast! 🙂
The problem was never the orchestra or the conductor, but the management. They do not seem to be capable of dealing with the challenges of their job. I think they are an incompetent bunch.