Mahler Symphony No. 1 - Haitink - BSO Recorded Live

Typical Haitink Mahler

Later in his career Bernard Haitink gave up performing Mahler and he never really had any real emotional affinity with his music. Although while visiting Amsterdam I heard a magnificent Ninth with him and the Concertgebouw just before he left the orchestra. This Boston First is very clean, but he and the orchestra plod their way through the first movement, the second is rhythmically rigid, the third is devoid of emotion and he sounds bored in the finale. You only have to turn to Bernstein's magnificent New York Phil version beautifully remastered by HDTT to hear how Mahler should be conducted. The sound is excellent, but it would be nice to know more about the Clark Johnsen archive (is this taken from an off-the-air broadcast?). I have the greatest of respect for Bob Witrak, but on too many occasions he fails to give customers enough information about the source material.

A genial reading never before commercially released

This live recording has never found it's way to a commercial release on LP or tape (per information from HDTT) before now. This is certainly the first time I've heard it. And in this respect, this release is a treasure. It's is a discovery to hear Haitink's approach to this music in collaboration with the BSO versus the Concertgebouw. There is a certain genial nobility to Haitink's performance throughout this symphony that is most enjoyable. He manages the contrast of the opening sunshine and lyricism with the later tension and drama so as to create a really nice tension. When the Fourth Movement, Stürmisch Bewegt, opens, it shocks one's psyche after the calm preceding it -- as it should. The drama is all there. As always, the transfer by HDTT is superbly clean and noise free, with excellent frequency extension. Peak dynamics sound a bit compressed, however, which I attribute to the source.