Bernard Haitink conducts Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4
On 12 March 1964, Bernard Haitink made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Works by Anton Bruckner were on the programme of many of his unforgettable concerts with the orchestra, so it was only natural for Haitink to celebrate his 50th Philharmoniker anniversary with a performance of Bruckner’s “Romantic” symphony. The soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 is also a long-time associate of Haitink, Emanuel Ax.
When Bernard Haitink and Emanuel Ax appear together in a concert, the composers on the programme are (almost) a given: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Anton Bruckner. The American pianist has been playing with the Berliner Philharmoniker for over 25 years, and he has repeatedly proven himself a specialist in the piano concerti of the First Viennese School, particularly Mozart’s. The Dutchman Bernard Haitink, guest conductor with the Philharmoniker since 1964, on the other hand, is one of the outstanding Bruckner interpreters of our time.
The two artists gave a guest performance with the Berliner Philharmoniker once before in 2001 with just this line-up of composers. At the time the Berliner Morgenpost wrote about Emanuel Ax’s rendition of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in E flat major K. 449: “He considers it a privilege to serve Mozart. That pays off for both of them: the composer and his effortless interpreter.” This time Emanuel Ax plays another piano concerto in E-flat major, K. 271, which Mozart composed in 1777 for the pianist Louise Victoire Jenamy. With this virtuoso work, Jenamy, who was 21 at the time, proved herself a real master of the genre. Even the beginning in which the soloist and the orchestra immediately take up a lively dialogue is unusual and shows the composer’s individual creative drive.
The evening’s second work is also in the key of E flat major: Anton Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony, which carries the epithet “Romantic” and is among the Austrian composer’s most-performed works. Bernard Haitink last conducted this piece with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1996. “We heard richly differentiated symphonic art,” the critic of the Berliner Zeitung wrote.
© 2014 Berlin Phil Media GmbH
Related interviews
Artists
Our recommendations
- Andris Nelsons and Emanuel Ax perform Mozart and Strauss
- Simon Rattle conducts “Bluebeard’s Castle”
- Sir Simon Rattle conducts a Mozart Gala at the 2005 New Year’s Eve Concert
- Simon Rattle and Emanuel Ax
- Alan Gilbert and Emanuel Ax in works by Mozart and Stravinsky
- Bernard Haitink conducts Schubert and Mahler