“You can only talk about Bernard Haitink in superlatives.” If you ask eight musicians, colleagues and friends of Bernard Haitink to tell you about the legendary conductor the day after his death, they each tell for themselves how shy and modest he was as a person. But also how cordial and confident. And quite flammable if something got in the way of the music. As a conductor he was analytical, flexible and powerful, without mannerisms, focused on the heart of the matter. Everyone wanted to go to extremes for him.
Jard van Nes, mezzo-soprano
“It was always right with Bernard. For him it was not about how you play one note, but about how you go from one note to the next. He conducted so smoothly, so to the point. The beginning of a mate was never to be missed.
„When I was in Mahlers Second Symphony was allowed to sing, something went wrong with a choir insert. It wasn’t Haitink’s fault, but he acted like it was. “Excuse me, I obviously didn’t state that clearly,” he said. A lot of conductors suffer from cocky behavior, but he doesn’t. He was exceptionally humble. Sometimes too.
“That Second I had prepared for Mahler down to the last detail. That conductor does it this way, this one like this, I was telling Bernard all that nervously. “Ma’am,” he said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but just sing first.”
Sjoerd van den Berg, former deputy director of the Concertgebouw Orchestra
“What makes Haitink so great is that unique Haitink sound he was able to deliver. You recognized him right up to the last concert.
“Yes, there could be a lot of misunderstanding between him and the orchestra conductor. He could be highly flammable. Then we would have made a wrong proposal and then it was wrong. She sent me to him to make it up, and then it would be all right and we were friends again. He loved Amsterdam so much. He has often denied that, of course, but it was true.
“Where there was never misunderstanding: between him and the orchestra. When he came back after a while, he said to the musicians: “Hey, great, you can still do it.” He loved the buck, because ‘he was not disturbed there.’ Everything out there, well, he believed all that.”
Theo Berkhout, former orchestra inspector of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, friends with Haitink
“As a conductor you stand in front of 120 people who have to do exactly what you want. But there are also qualities in the orchestra that you have to give freedom within the lines of the score. He could. This gave you a wonderful interaction. That has been his secret.
“I thought he was a very warm person. He was so honest with the music. He always continued to study. Every time he conducted a piece, he bought a clean score to start over. And don’t forget that he really liked to put Dutch composers on the desk.”
Jaap van Zweden, former concert master of the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Haitink and conductor
“There was no difference between Haitink behind the scenes and Haitink on stage. He was always busy with music. I don’t know a conductor who takes his craft as seriously as he did. He knew how to give each orchestra member an enormous sense of responsibility about what had to be done.
“Rehearsals were very analytical, but he went wild during the concert. Then something happened that other conductors don’t have. He really set things on fire. And he was a real public conductor; he managed to bind the orchestra and the audience by always communicating with the audience.
“It was Haitink who gave me the opportunity to become concertmaster when I was nineteen. He was a tremendously fatherly mentor.”
Ed Spanjaard conductor ao as assistant to Haitink
“Haitink’s grandeur is so hard to describe. Haitink was elusive. In his being he was shy. When you got close to him, he was very warm and confident.
“In the outside world he could be insecure, but for an orchestra that melted like snow in the sun. The way he stood before the orchestra; how he was in place, how his will and the music coincided, that is indescribable. He listened all the time. Was the sound good enough, did musicians have enough freedom to play?
“In the 1960s I asked him for an autograph as a teenager. I last saw him just before corona. We have been reading historical letters from composers together. That was extraordinarily wonderful.”
Roberta Alexander, soprano
“Haitink’s craftsmanship sat in peace when he conducted. He had no mannerisms, no fussing, it was just about the music. I first heard him in the early 70’s. He conducted a Second Symphony by Mahler at De Doelen in Rotterdam. I’ve been crying. ‘Oh, if I could ever sing this with this conductor’, I thought. I told him that years later, when it actually happened. He laughed a lot about it.”
Stijn Berkouwer conductor, received masterclasses from Haitink
“The special thing about Haitink was that from bar one you felt where the music would end. He was always working towards the last chord. At first he kept the reins tight; he thought you shouldn’t shoot your powder right away. You had to save your real arts for later in the play. That is his unique signature.
“As a teacher, he has inspired so many young conductors with his masterclasses. He taught you with great respect. The best moment: I was conducting and he came up to me. “Yes, it’s good,” he said. ‘But… it could be a little more… Pass that baton.’ He stood in front of the orchestra, his eyes flashed past the musicians and with a minute movement he forced the entire orchestra together. That was so characteristic. He was far too shy to tell me what I was doing wrong. He preferred to show it.”
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