As it turned out, Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink was in fact a very fine English conductor. In his years with the London Philharmonic from 1967 through 1979, Haitink not only tightened the ensemble and secured its playing, he performed and ultimately recorded a great deal of English music, including the complete symphonies of Elgar and Vaughan Williams. But by no means have all of Haitink's interpretations of English music been released, and this issue by LPO Live of concert performances of works by Elgar and Britten will ...
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As it turned out, Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink was in fact a very fine English conductor. In his years with the London Philharmonic from 1967 through 1979, Haitink not only tightened the ensemble and secured its playing, he performed and ultimately recorded a great deal of English music, including the complete symphonies of Elgar and Vaughan Williams. But by no means have all of Haitink's interpretations of English music been released, and this issue by LPO Live of concert performances of works by Elgar and Britten will be welcome in homes that hold English composers dear. Haitink's only previous Elgar recordings include both symphonies, but his vigorously robust yet tenderly sweet Introduction and Allegro from 1984 and his brilliantly exuberant yet deeply felt Enigma Variations from 1986 are splendid additions to the catalog. Especially welcome will be his 1979 recording of Britten's Our Hunting Fathers with soprano Heather Harper. Haitink's only previous Britten recording was of a grimly symphonic...
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