Perhaps the most impressive part of Bernard Haitink's conducting of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at this Prom was his concentration in distracting circumstances. During the third movement, the fire alarm appeared to go off in the arena foyers and red lights started flashing inside the auditorium itself; before that, we'd had mobile phones ringing, and the audience in general seemed restless.
Yet Haitink managed to keep going through it all, focusing the orchestra on the job in hand in a stirring performance of Bruckner's Eighth Symphony. At ninety minutes in length, the piece takes some patience both to perform and to listen to, and at times the weaknesses of the work became apparent through a lack of focus. But the sumptuousness of the Concertgebouw's sound was a glory to behold, and in particular, the uniform virtuosity of all the players was dazzling. In contrast to Claudio Abbado's hyperactive, vague conducting style at Prom 51, it was refreshing to see Haitink's clear, authoritative beat leading the way through the piece, even if a little more introspection would have been welcome in places.
The Allegro moderato first movement swept along at a great pace and immediately the quality of the brass section became especially apparent. Through an economy of gesture, Haitink drew exciting sounds from all concerned: the oboe soloist, the trombones, the cello section and the horn soloist all carried the weight of their particular stretches of the score. The first climax was terrific: swaying in perfect time with one another, the strings drew out their long theme until the timpani and brass took over, playing the huge fanfare with plenty of thrills.
However, the Scherzo wasn't quite nimble enough, despite Haitink's best efforts to hone the violins' rapid tremolo opening to make it in tempo. The horn calls at the start continued the high standard of brass playing, as did the subtle dynamic contours of the trumpets and trombones; the flautists also played their sections with noticeable refinement. The trio section was better: the first violins really shaped their Schubertian theme, and the countersubjects by the horns were equally excellent in shape and tone.
The co-ordination of the string playing in the third movement resembled a string quartet rather than a large symphony orchestra; there were such neat surges in dynamic and phrasing, particularly from the cellos, that intimacy rather than grandeur was attained. Again, the brass climaxes pierced the heart, with the tuba, surprisingly, making the biggest impression in the chorale theme of this movement.
Maybe the finale promised more than it delivered. It is very difficult to bring off, and I didn't feel that Haitink quite succeeded, which is not to deny the thrill of the tutti sections and the genuine sense of elation in the closing bars (which were greeted by cheers from the crowd). Bruckner writes quiet, contemplative sections and abruptly juxtaposes them with louder, romantic gestures. For me, there was little coherence between these aspects, particularly where the music wanted a tender, gentle approach. Nevertheless, the brass climaxes were so infectiously rousing that it was impossible not to feel satisfied by the end result.