Thoughts on Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande

[Jose Echenique]

Perhaps I'm off-topic here but, on the subject of Haitink, I really find it hard to believe that a conductor of his stature does not have a regular recording contact with any of the major labels.  If it wasn't for in-house orchestra labels like LSO Live and CSO Live, we would be denied many of his performances.  I also own a superb version of Wagner's Parsifal that he conducted at the Zurich Opera House in 2007 (released on a DG DVD) that boasts wonderful performances from Christopher Ventris as Parsifal and Michael Volle as Amfortas.  Haitink is by no means  a Wagner specialist but the sounds he conjures up from the Zurich players are quite something.  The production does divide a lot of people, however, and I think that the performance would benefit immensely from being released as a CD set.

PHILIPS terminated his contract almost 2 decades ago. It was reported back then that his second recording of Mahler´s First Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic barely sold 600 units in the U.S.A., disappointing if not alarming to say the least. Of course back then there was a saturation of Mahler recordings in the high peak of the cd fever. Perhaps it was only ill timing and not necessarily judgment on his music making. The BPO Mahler cycle was left incomplete.

[fergus]

Perhaps I'm off-topic here but, on the subject of Haitink, I really find it hard to believe that a conductor of his stature does not have a regular recording contact with any of the major labels....  

Good observation Paul. I enjoy Haitink's interpretations generally but particularly in Bruckner and Shostakovich based on what I have in my collection.