Bernard Haitink, The Enigmatic Maestro

2020 BBC Two

In this portrait of one of the world's most admired conductors, the late Bernard Haitink was preparing for his retirement from the podium at the age of ninety. He is seen at work with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, and orchestral musicians puzzle over the secrets of his technique. Haitink himself and members of his family look back over his 65-year career. Featuring interviews with Dame Sarah Connolly, Sir Thomas Allen, Emanuel Ax and Mark-Anthony Turnage.

FILM CREDITS

Photography	Jonathan Partridge
Additional Photography	Vaughan Matthews, Robert Stern
Sound	Patrick Boland
Additional Sound	Derek Katzer
Production Research	Jack Harberd
Archive Researcher	Alex Cowan
Production Co-ordinator	Lisa Anderson
Production Managers	Anna Holden-Booth, Lisa Quilter, Joanne Kneafsey
Dubbing Mixer	David Ingram
Finishing Editor	Paul Ingvarsson
BBC Commissioning Editor	Jan Younghusband
Film Editor	Riaz Meer
Written, narrated and directed by	John Bridcut

Thanks to: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Lucerne Festival, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal Opera House, Leonard Sanderman, Judy Grahame

Archive Sources: BBC, Getty Images, British Pathe, ArenaPal, Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision, Dutch National Archives, OTB Medien, NOS

1 x 90'

The film is now available for international broadcast or streaming. Please contact Reiner Moritz at Poorhouse International.

REVIEWS

'His 65-year devotion to music-making [...] is the subject of John Bridcut's lovely new film. [...] It's some life, and this is some film.'

Ben Dowell, The Times

'A fine tribute to a self-effacing man [...] a celebration, a chance to hear beautiful music, with Bridcut assembling a cast to sing his praises.'

Anita Singh, Daily Telegraph

'John Bridcut’s film works, rather like one of Haitink’s performances, by placing trust in his material and moulding its form with a nudge here, a pause there. The result, no less than his much admired portrait of Janet Baker, is worthy of its subject, and praise doesn’t come higher than that.

'Bridcut’s linking narration refrains from insulting the viewer’s intelligence whatever their level of musical experience, and he knows what the telling question is, when and how to ask it. One of them elicits a piercing flash of self-examination. “I can translate music with my hands. And I’m quite proud of that.” Some of us have expended thousands of words analysing what conductors do and come nowhere close to this simple truth.

'A thoroughly musical, engrossing film reaches its high-point with the serene climax to Bruckner's Adagio, followed by a brief and unsentimental coda. Ax and Allen ask him to come back. Will he? “I’m afraid not".'

Peter Quantrill, The Arts Desk

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