Eduard van Beinum
'Big deal... a great conductor. I'm a musician and human being, that's all!' Eduard Van Beinum was once reputed to have said. That remark was typical of him. The score and the music, not the conductor's ego, were Eduard Van Beinum's main priority. He objected to being labelled an 'authority'. He conducted Bruckner with love, but he conducted music by Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Brahms and Mahler with equal devotion. In view of Van Beinum's down-to-earth attitude when it came to conducting, it is therefore not surprising that he didn't write grand retrospects of his performances. The obvious step to gain a better insight into Van Beinum's special affinity with Bruckner's work, was to talk to former orchestra members, and in conversations with bassoonist Brian Pollard and horn player Adraan Van Woudenberg, I was immediately struck by the enormous affection they still felt when they talked shout working under Van Beinum, even after all these years. Van Woudenberg described him as follows:
'He was a paterfamilias. Making music together, in the true sense of the phrase, was his motto. He knew how to give people freedom, whilst at the same time, convincing them of his vision.'
source: The Infallible Intuition of a Great Bruckner Conductor, Niek Nelissen.
Booklet Philips CD 464 950-2
