Complete Recordings on Decca & Philips: 31CD Boxset

Bernard Haitink was always a familiar figure in London where was principal conductor of the London Philharmonic from 1967 to 1979 and was also seen at such prestigious British opera houses as Covent Garden and at Glyndebourne.

This, the second of three volumes covering Haitink’s complete recordings for Decca and Philips, focuses on his London years. The recordings cover a period of two decades, from 1967 (Dvořák with Heinrich Schiff) to 1986 (Rachmaninoff with Vladimir Ashkenazy).

Many of the hallmarks of Haitink’s Concertgebouw recordings are present in these readings with the LPO. His unobtrusive authority – letting the score speak – was aptly summarised by Gramophone: “At no point is one remotely aware that the performance is being conducted. It simply is.”

CDs 1-6

BEETHOVEN: Symphonies Nos. 1-9
Overtures: Coriolan, Leonora No. 3; Egmont
Triple Concerto (Beaux Arts Trio)

CDs 7-9

BEETHOVEN: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5; Choral Fantasia
(Alfred Brendel; London Philharmonic Choir)

CD 10

DVOŘÁK: Cello Concerto; Silent Woods; Rondo in G minor
(Heinrich Schiff)

CD 11

HOLST: The Planets
ELGAR: Enigma Variations

CDs 12-15

LISZT: Tone Poems

CD 16

LISZT: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; Totentanz
(Alfred Brendel)

CDs 17-18

MENDELSSOHN: Symphonies Nos. 1, 3 ‘Scottish’, 4 & 5 ‘Reformation’
Overtures: Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt; The Hebrides

CD 19

MOZART: Overtures

CD 20

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Scheherazade
RACHMANINOFF: Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini (Vladimir Ashkenazy)

CDs 21-26

SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10 & 15; The Golden Age – Suite

CDs 27-28

STRAVINSKY: The Firebird; Petrushka; The Rite of Spring

CDs 29-31

VERDI: Don Carlo
(Galina Gorchakova, Olga Borodina, Dmitri Hvorostovksy; Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden)