Word: haitink
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...first symphony seems to me a bit lacking in the quality for which early critics dubbed it "Beethoven's Tenth Symphony." For example, at the moment of maximum dramatic impact, the brass chorale before the final coda in the last movement, Haitink plows right on through, almost as if anxious to leave it behind him. Brahms delayed writing this symphony for over 20 years, fearing that he would forever remain in the shadow of Beethoven. However, it seems here that Haitink might be the one who feels himself in the shadows of the great symphonists...
...Haitink's recording of the second symphony begins a little cold-blooded for my taste, perhaps adhering to Brahms' wishes of putting "a black edge around the score to give an outward show of grief," but it quickly picks up more and more of the infectious charm that characterizes this beloved piece...
Though he never throws restraint entirely to the winds, I would guess that Haitink perspires quite a bit in the last movement, ending with a satisfying rendition of the tiered descending scales and "stuck car-horn" trombone soli...
...calculated than that of its cousins, but the tension is not uniformly kept up through the inner movements, although I appreciate the subtle interplay between the inner voices that abounds in the second and third movements (including a wayward timpani mallet about 18 seconds into the second movement). While Haitink receives my praise for sustaining the momentum in the sublime cello theme of the third movement, I still wish that he had felt just a little more free to lose himself in its glory. Typically, he avoids excessively punching the off-beat accents in the final movement, but compared...
...cannot help but hold the recording of the fourth symphony against the standard of Carlos Kleiber's intensely gripping account on Deutsche Grammophon. Haitink does not fare badly at all, and his treatment of the elaborate passacaglia structure of the fourth movement is thoroughly admirable, including the difficult horn chorale...