The conductor Eduard Van Beinum always presented himself as one of the musicians, wanting to stand amongst rather than above the orchestra. He said of his work “One must certainly not be tyrannical. A conductor must immerse himself in the possibilities of each and every orchestra member and bring everything out of them.” It was a huge shock, when during a rehearsal of Brahms’s First Symphony on 13 April 1959, Van Beinum collapsed on the podium in the Concertgebouw, succumbing to a heart condition he had battled with for years. His qualities as a musician had perhaps not been fully appreciated during his lifetime, but after his death, his recordings allow us to re-evaluate his impeccable musical intuition, his good taste and the spontaneity of his music-making. Collected here in one edition are the complete recordings he made for both Decca & Philips labels, on 43-CDs in original jackets. Rarities include a number of 78rpm recordings made for ‘Dutch Decca’, released on CD for the very first time.
