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Bernard Haitink (1929–2021), who died last week aged 92, is regarded as the greatest Dutch conductor of the past sixty years.

I was lucky enough to attend at least one concert under his baton. The main meat of this one evening was Mahler's nocturnal Symphony No. 7. During the hushed opening bars before the Tenorhorn began its mournful solo, one of the double bass players dropped his mute with one hell of a clatter that must have been heard in the back row. We were close enough to Haitink to be able to read his face. There was not the slightest change in his expression, which was one of the deepest concentration. (He was utterly devoted to the symphonies of Mahler and even more so to those of Bruckner.) It was as if the incident had never happened.

Right now Dutch TV and radio are full of interviews with and documentaries about the man, who offstage was self-effacing almost to an embarrassing degree. My wife tells me he used to devour huge quantities of food after his concerts to bring himself back down to earth! Here he is conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker in the opening minutes of the finale of that Mahler symphony. Slaap zacht, Maestro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4iN2VJoBRk

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Haitink (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Haitink)

:(

I have whole bunch of CD's with him as conductor.

In fact, in a freaky coincidence, I was literally just 3 minutes ago listening to Mahler's 8th with him conducting! And I didn't even know he had died until I read this post 3 minutes later!

"On the beach at night, alone" from Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony, here sung by the baritone Jonathan Summers, is such an evocative piece, and most especially in Bernard Haitink's hands.

Bon voyage, maestro.     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aK6k6tt1Z4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sea_Symphony