Bernard Haitink conducts a
beautiful performance, magnificently played, particularly considering
its live provenance. The first movement has plenty of character, thanks
to the RCO's delicious woodwinds and subtle but precise percussion.
Haitink paces it perfectly too, but unfortunately his judgment fails him
in the second movement, which (like his prior recording with the LPO on
Decca) is just too slow--at least given his relatively subdued shaping
of its various episodes. Kurt Sanderling, for example, also is quite
slow (though not quite so measured as here), but his climaxes both in
the Adagio and in the passacaglia finale pack more punch.
This
isn't to say that Haitink leads with too much reserve, as so often
seems to be the case in other music; it's just a question of making
comparisons in real-time listening. If I had been in the audience for
this performance I have no doubt that I would have been hard-pressed to
register even the slight reservations on offer here. The spooky coda in
this version, for example, is both more hushed and more affecting than
in his earlier effort, and while the short playing time of the disc (47
minutes) really does preclude this release becoming a prime
recommendation, it remains an impressive performance all around. If the
slow tempos don't bother you, it's worth hearing.
