BSO Closes Regular Season With Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink

08:07

May 02, 2012

Bernard Haitink conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the Brahms Symphony No. One in 2009.(AP)

This weekend, the Boston Symphony Orchestra wraps up their regular season before heading west to Tanglewood for the summer. It's the end of their first season since the departure of music director James Levine, whom the orchestra has yet to replace.

The weekend's concerts also mark the end of a three week engagement with BSO Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink. Performances lead by the 83-year-old Dutch master have drawn glowing reviews, and orchestra members say his familiar presence has been reassuring in otherwise uncertain times.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Maestro Haitink at Symphony Hall, where he is busy rehearsing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Stravinsky's "Symphony of Psalms."

The "Symphony of Psalms" has a special history in Boston. The BSO commissioned it to celebrate their 50th anniversary in 1931. Time Magazine has called it the greatest classical work of the 20th century, and while Haitink shies away from such sweeping declarations, he does not disagree.

Guest:

Bernard Haitink, BSO Conductor Emeritus

More:

Boston Symphony Orchestra: Stravinsky and Beethoven

This segment aired on May 2, 2012.