Bernard Haitink

After conducting for 65 years, Bernard Haitink has retired at the age of 90. The musicians he has worked with are puzzled by the secrets of his technique. He himself says his job is to embrace the orchestra without suffocating them.

After 65 years at the rostrum, Bernard Haitink is making his departure from the concert stage at the age of 90. In his farewell concert at the Salzburg Festival, featuring the Vienna Philharmonic and pianist Emanuel Ax, the maestro conducts two tragical-lyrical works that mark the zenith of the respective composers’ creative powers - Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7. The Dutch conductor was to enchant his audience, orchestra and apparently also himself in his final performance of the work.

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Translucence, transparency – warmth’ are the qualities identified by Bernard Haitink as necessary for an ideal sound performance of Beethoven's only opera, and all are present in this fantastic recording of Katharina Thalbach's 2008 production for Opernhaus Zurich. Haitink conducts the Zurich Opera Orchestra in a magnificent performance in which Leonore Overture No. 3 provides an interlude between the two scenes of the second act, following a tradition started by Gustav Mahler. German soprano Melanie Diener, in the role of Leonore, leads a brilliant cast including Alfred Muff as Rocco, Roberto Saccà as Florestan, Sandra Trattnigg as Marzelline and Christoph Strehl as Jaquino. This High Definition recording with true surround sound marks the start of the exciting collaboration between Opus Arte and Opernhaus Zurich.

No plot available for this movie.

No plot available for this movie.

No plot available for this movie.

Documents the interpretations of Gustav Mahler's compositions by conductors Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, and Simon Rattle, who detail the special relationship they have with Mahler's work.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Exsultate, Jubilate, KV 165 Et incarnatus est Credo from Mass in C minor, KV 427 Frédéric Chopin: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2, op. 21 Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 1, op. 38, B-flat minor

Following the success of the Art of Conducting-Great Conductors of the Past, this second edition focuses on a further six of the twentieth century's greatest conductors, complemented by commentary from music personalities who knew the artists firsthand. Rare film clips are also included of Herbert von Karajan, Hermann Scherchen, Andre Cluytens and Vaclav Talich.