On YouTube, there’s a video of a 1973 concert with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Bernard Haitink performing Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto with soloist Artur Rubinstein. It’s an extraordinary concert to hear, between the young Haitink, the 86-year-old Rubinstein, and the orchestra’s signature sound (consistently described as “homogeneous and transparent at the same time”). The way the sound travels in the Concertgebouw forces musicians to listen to one another more closely than in other halls, and even the largest symphonies take on some of the intimate qualities of chamber music.
Relaxing in the Pressure Cooker
The musicians of Concertgebouworkest Young make their own stories
