Bernard Haitink
Long the leader of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, conductor Bernard Haitink was widely regarded as one of the finest conductors of the 20th century. He was known for meticulous but exciting performances of a wide variety of orchestral repertory, and he also conducted opera.
Haitink was born in Amsterdam on March 4, 1929. His father was a municipal electricity executive, and his mother was an employee of the local Alliance Française. Haitink began his career as a violinist, studying the violin at the Amsterdam Conservatory and also taking some conducting lessons. For several years, he played the violin in the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, but he switched to conducting in the mid-1950s, taking lessons with Ferdinand Leitner. Named second conductor with the Netherlands Radio Union, he led four different ensembles before being promoted to principal conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic in 1957. A substitute appearance for the ailing Carlo Maria Giulini at the Concertgebouw Orchestra led to frequent guest appearances with that group and finally to Haitink's appointment as principal conductor in 1961, at first jointly with Eugen Jochum, and then, in 1963, as sole principal conductor.
Recordings of orchestral and concerto repertory with Haitink leading the Concertgebouw Orchestra were staples of the Philips label catalog, and later, those of Decca and EMI, through much of the later LP era, and well into those of CDs and online reproduction. Haitink also served as the music director of the London Philharmonic from 1967 to 1979 and made recordings with that group as well. His recordings focused on 19th century Romantic repertory but extended back to Mozart and into the 20th century, featuring composers as diverse as Ravel, Shostakovich, and Vaughan Williams. In the vast works of Wagner and Bruckner, his control and precision were nonpareil. Haitink was quite active as an opera conductor in Britain, where he took up residence. He was the music director of the Glyndebourne Festival from 1977 to 1988 and of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London from 1987 to 2002, recording both French and German opera with these groups. In 1988, Haitink resigned from his conductorship at the Concertgebouw in frustration over government cutbacks; he returned to conducting there after a reconciliation several years later and continued to appear with the group until shortly before his retirement in 2019. He also guest conducted widely with European groups, including the Berlin Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic, as well as the Boston Symphony, where he was named principal guest conductor. Haitink remained active, in the Netherlands, Britain, and elsewhere, through several decades of senior citizen status.
Haitink's recordings number over 450. He continued to record through his eighties, making a new recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 ("Choral") with the Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in 2019, just days before his 90th birthday. In that year, he announced his retirement, making his final Proms appearance in London with the Vienna Philharmonic on September 3, 2019, marking his 90th Proms appearance. His final appearance came three days later with that orchestra in Lucerne, Switzerland. New releases and reissues of Haitink performances continued uninterrupted; a live recording of Haitink's last Amsterdam appearance, in Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, was released just days before his death on October 21, 2021, at his home in London. Haitink was the holder of an honorary British knighthood and was a member of the House Order of Orange-Nassau, an honor bestowed by the Dutch queen.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Mahler: The Symphonies & Song Cycles
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Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Mar 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: The Symphonies
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Symphonies - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Mar 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 3
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Classical - Released by BR-Klassik on 30 Dec 2016
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner : Symphony No. 6 (Live)
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Symphonies - Released by BR-Klassik on 27 Oct 2017
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 in C Minor, WAB 108 (Ed. R. Haas) (Live)
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Classical - Released by BR-Klassik on 3 Nov 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Te Deum, WAB 45
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Classical - Released by BR-Klassik on 17 Nov 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 65 (Live)
Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Bernard Haitink
Classical - Released by BR-Klassik on 8 Mar 2024
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 in E Major, WAB 107 (1885 Version, Ed. L. Nowak) (Live)
Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Bernard Haitink
Classical - Released by BR-Klassik on 12 Jan 2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major, WAB 104 "Romantic" (1886 Version, Ed. L. Nowak) (Live)
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Classical - Released by BR-Klassik on 1 Sep 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven : Missa solemnis, Op. 123 (Live)
Bernard Haitink, Bavarian Radio Chorus, Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mark Padmore
Classical - Released by BR-Klassik on 5 May 2015
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Mahler Symphony No. 7
Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Bernard Haitink
Classical - Released by BR-Klassik on 2 Jun 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 1-9 (Live)
Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons, Lorin Maazel, Bernard Haitink
Classical - Released by BR-Klassik on 5 Apr 2019
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-9
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Classical - Released by LSO Live on 12 Sep 2006
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner : Symphony No. 5 (Live)
Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Bernard Haitink
Symphonies - Released by BR-Klassik on 16 Nov 2010
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner No. 7 (Live)
Bernard Haitink, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Challenge Classics on 1 Oct 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony)
Bernard Haitink, London Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by LSO Live on 9 Feb 2010
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra; Ein Heldenleben (Herman Krebbers Edition, Vol. 15)
Herman Krebbers, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 Jan 2006
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Violin Concerto (Herman Krebbers Edition, Vol. 9)
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Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 Jan 1973
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: La Mer; Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune; Ibéria
Bernard Haitink, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Violin Concerto
Henryk Szeryng, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 28 Mar 1974
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Violin Concerto
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24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo