Bernard Haitink, R.I.P.

The one weakness in his recorded output was the Beethoven Symphonies, which was weird because he was so excellent in the Piano Concertos, with Arrau, Brendel, and Perahia.  His Concertgebou Mahler and Bruckner grow in stature with each rehearing, but especially in Mahler he must have been overshadowed by the flashier efforts of Bernstein, Solti, and even cult figures like Horenstein.  Those Mahler recordings of Haitink have been released on BluRay Audio and just sound stupendous 

The Phillips label of course has been subsumed into a larger label under the Decca banner. When Haitink and Phillips were in their heyday, with seemingly a new release every few weeks, I was a cash poor student and those lps were the most expensive.  I bought a few but it seemed a sacrilege to subject that pristine quiet vinyl to the torture of my cheap turn table. The ones I did purchase I would obsess over cleaning, rechecking the anti skate, trying different tracking weights, etc.  inevitably they would get scuffed up and it would always feel like a friend had died.  I therefore missed out on most of his recordings unless they showed up in the overflow bins of the stores, a rare circumstance.    With CDs being repackaged at bargain basement rates I have caught up with many recordings from those days and marvel anew at the partnership of Haitink and the Concertgebouw.  Such a range of Orchestral Color.

Thanks edgewear, those are illuminating comments about Phillips and the Concert Hall.  It makes me want to investigate the Chailly Decca recordings, of which I think the only one in my collection is Mahler 3 on SACD.  I always thought that recording was overly clinical.  How do you feel about the Maris Jansons recorded legacy?
  I’ve only been to Amsterdam once, and frustratingly for me it was a few weeks before the Concert season started.  I did take a tour of the Hall.  I have heard the Orchestra on tour once, many years ago, but was bitterly disappointed to have missed them last year due to Covid 

I listened to Chailly, on Qobuz in Mahler 5, and then played the SACD version of Haitink in the same work, and the Decca recording is definitely more etched, the Haitink kind of soft in comparison (btw, my first encounter with this work was Haitink leading the London Phil on tour, circa 1977).  Interesting that the 2 recording styles match the performing styles of the 2 conductors, as Chailly is harder edged and while BH is no Kubelik or Walter, he is miles away from Boulez, who seems to have influenced Chailly.  I hated hearing Boulez when he conducted Mahler here in Chicago but have come around to appreciating it, and will now investigate Chailly
  I agree about the Haitink Shostakovich 15th, which I had played recently.  Love the crazy toy shop on Acid ending to that work.
  Who was the soprano in the radio broadcast of the 4th?  Same as the recording?

His discography has virtually no Sibelius, Rachmaninov, or Prokofiev.  Did her perform these Composers?