{"id":5478,"date":"2019-09-04T09:11:33","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T08:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=5478"},"modified":"2019-09-04T09:18:03","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T08:18:03","slug":"prom-60-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=5478","title":{"rendered":"Prom 60"},"content":{"rendered":"

Royal Albert Hall, 3 September 2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Bernard Haitink\u2019s final London concert was characterised by warmth, dignity and charisma. Many years ago I was at one of Otto Klemperer\u2019s last concerts and, two generations later, it was moving to see Haitink, now similarly slow on his feet and using a stick, helped onto the platform by soloist Emmanuel Ax for Beethoven\u2019s fourth piano concerto.<\/p>\n

Once on the podium in front of the inimitable Vienna Philharmonic, however, all frailty disappeared. He conducted with unshowy, veteran authority using the conductor\u2019s stool only part of the time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

He and Ax gave us a tender, measured performance with lots of gentle vibrato in the first movement\u2019s long cadenza as it shifts from grandioso to cantabile. I have rarely heard the andante<\/em> so sensitively controlled and I admired the attractive lightness in the third movement.<\/p>\n

Ax then gave us Schubert\u2019s Impromptu Op 1 No 42 \u2013 an old friend \u2013 as his encore, really leaning on the contrast between the two moods it includes.<\/p>\n

After the interval the VPO doubled its numbers (maybe six women in total) as extra brass and percussion players swarmed up the tiers for Bruckner\u2019s Seventh. This colourful marathon is a lovely thing to hear the Vienna Phil play because from stridency to the most delicate filigree lyricism, it really gives every section the chance to strut its stuff \u2013 those trombone descending scales in the opening allegro for instance. And, given the size and length of the piece it seemed all the more remarkable that Haitink at 90 is still, apparently effortlessly, able to ensure that the dramatic dynamics are exactly that. And he conducted this work without opening the score.<\/p>\n

Other high spots included languorous string playing in the adagio,<\/em> sparky trumpet solos in the scherzo<\/em> and I loved the way the woodwind interjections were led to shine through in the finale.<\/p>\n

The Royal Albert Hall was as full and busy as I\u2019ve ever seen it for what was effectively a pretty atmospheric farewell party. Bernard Haitink\u2019s respectful standing ovation at the end was a richly deserved tribute.<\/p>\n

Susan Elkin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Royal Albert Hall, 3 September 2019 Bernard Haitink\u2019s final London concert was characterised by warmth, dignity and charisma. Many years ago I was at one of Otto Klemperer\u2019s last concerts and, two generations later, it was moving to see Haitink, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5478"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5478"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5482,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5478\/revisions\/5482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}