Happy Birthday, Bernard Haitink
Guess who else turns 80 today? I have only seen Bernard Haitink conduct once when I saw him with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. There he conducted the best performance of Mahler 1 I have ever heard. They owned that piece.
The only thing that was not perfect about the performance was an annoying cough that was heard during the 3rd movement. Mr. Haitink knew this, and used his left hand to motion to the person to *stop coughing* WHILE he was conducting the rest of the movement.
GENIUS.
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