BBC Proms (1947) : 66x75

Haydn - Symphony No. 104 in D major, 'London' (30 mins) Interlude Richard Strauss - An Alpine Symphony (50 mins) Encore - Johann Strauss - Voices of Spring Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Bernard Haitink, Conductor The doyen (edit: dean) of European conductors presents favourite repertoire with an ensemble closely associated with the history and traditions of orchestral music. The last of Haydn’s symphonies, written while he was living in London, proved an instant critical and commercial success. Not so the Strauss, part-elegy for Mahler, part-celebration of the composer himself. Mingling childhood memories of a schoolboy mountaineering expedition with a deeper vision of man’s place on earth, the work was received rather sniffily in Britain until dedicated interpreters such as Bernard Haitink arrived to change all that.