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What brings a symphony orchestra to the number 1 position of the “World’s Best Orchestra” list of the world renowned Gramophone Magazine? Of course, no one would be surprised about the first three orchestras on Gramophone’s list since the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra have toughed it out in the top three for many years now. But for RCO fans, the choice of the respected group of worldwide music critics (invited by Gramophone) although no doubt heavily criticized by fans of the ‘other two’, is obvious. But let me try to find the right arguments. First of all, the RCO is blessed with having their home in one of the best sounding concert halls in the classical music world: Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. Because of its highly regarded acoustics and design, this world class venue (founded in 1888) is considered one of the world’s finest concert halls along with Boston’s Symphony Hall and the Musikverein in Vienna. And it is true that an orchestra can only grow from good to great if it can both practice and work daily surrounded by stunning acoustics.
But this cannot be the only reason to gain the prestigious title of ’world’s best orchestra.’ Let’s see what Gramophone has to say: “The celebrated ensembles on our list represent the triumph of ‘character’ in orchestras. Too many bands these days have a uniform, slick but generalized sound, whereas the Concertgebouw (No. 1) is one of the last to really have an immediately identifiable sound, and to arguably (to an extent) plumb the character of composers in the way an actor will with his roles.” So it has to do with character, sound and the way the orchestras serve a composer’s work. I strongly believe that these three factors are the result of 120 years hard work of both great chief conductors and an excellent ensemble of world top musicians. And indeed, the RCO is one of the very few orchestras you can easily identify with your eyes closed.
The fact that the RCO has had six (yes, only six!) very different chief conductors in 120 years of history is, for me, the key factor in the creation of their unique sound and character. Willem Kes, Willem Mengelberg, Eduard van Beinum, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly and now, Mariss Jansons, have led, trained, inspired and moulded their orchestra day-in day-out through rehearsals, concerts, tours, recordings and projects: always inspired by the great acoustics of their hall. These six master conductors all added something special. They all had their preferences: their own notions on sound, rhythm, style and colour. They made the right choices in the auditions for new and excellent orchestra members. And on top of that the fact that the RCO worked with Mahler and Strauss conducting their works for many years has all put an ineradicable stamp on the brand of the orchestra.
To analyze the sound and character of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is almost a mission impossible. The slender, delicate, warm and silver sound of the strings is renowned. The brass is bright, powerful and refined, and the woodwinds are extremely elegant, full-sounding and unique as an ensemble unity. But above all it’s the character of the Concertgebouw Orchestra that makes the difference. Conductors often describe this as the ‘Dutch creativity’ or in the words of conductor Ivan Fisher “it’s the musicians’ personal involvement, imagination, intuition, and ability to take risks that makes a great orchestra what it is: a group of creative artists.”
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1888-1895 Willem Kes
The true father of the RCO is Willem Kes. He was their first leader after the founding of the so-called Concertgebouw Orkest in the late eighties of the 19th century. In fact we have no clue about the quality of the ensemble in this period. And after only 7 years Kes left for a “better” job. If he would have known what happened under his successor, Willem Kes might have taken a different decision. Because soon after he handed over the baton to the young Dutch conductor and pianist Willem Mengelberg in 1895, everything began to change: and quickly.
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1895-1945 Willem Mengelberg
Mengelberg put an immediate stamp on the orchestra and made the RCO into one of the world’s best within a period of ten years. Not only did he create sensational programs (like the Mahler Festival in 1920 performing all of Mahler’s works in two weeks time), he also invited the best guest conductors and composers to his Concertgebouw Orchestra, such luminaries as Pierre Monteux, Bruno Walter, Karl Muck and Eugen Jochem. His special relationship with Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss was key in the orchestra’s image, and has remained so ever since. Plus, with Mengelberg, we have the first audible evidence of the orchestra’s unparalleled sound quality. The Dutch public broadcaster AVRO recorded most of the orchestra’s history amongst which we find two of the favorite works with Mengelberg: Mahler’s Fourth Symphony and the St. Matthew Passion by J.S. Bach. For half a century Mengelberg modeled the orchestra, created it’s heavenly sound, and stimulated his musicians to give their creative best. Because of his controversial role during the war Mengelberg was banned from conducting and bizarrely, led a life as hermit in Switzerland until his death in 1951.
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1945-1959 Eduard van Beinum
After 1945 the Dutch conductor Eduard van Beinum continued the tradition of cultivating the orchestra’s strength in performing romantic and especially late romantic composers such as Mahler and Richard Strauss. He founded the yearlong relationship with the Philips recording label. However, Van Beinum unfortunately died suddenly, and far too early, at the podium of his beloved Concertgebouw from a fatal heart attack in April 1959.
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1961 - 1988 Bernard Haitink
For the young Bernard Haitink his debut at the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1956 had already been much too early. Three years later, the invitation for this gifted chief-conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic to become the first conductor of the RCO came totally unexpected, shortly followed by the offer of the position of chief-conductor. The relatively inexperienced Haitink really got the chance to develop with the orchestra. In the next quarter of a century he not only continued to carefully build on the quality and sound of his ensemble, but under his artistic leadership the media profile of the RCO also increased dramatically with hundreds of recordings for Philips, EMI and Columbia and the start of the Christmas Matinees, which reached millions of devotees worldwide via the Eurovisie Television broadcasts. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra became one of the most sought after touring orchestra’s with huge followings in the America’s and Asia.
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1988 – 2004 Riccardo Chailly
The first non-Dutchman came on board as the successor of Bernard Haitink. Riccardo Chailly won the orchestra with only one program as guest conductor. Under his leadership the RCO even grew to higher levels since he made the ensemble more flexible and virtuoso. Many new composers were added to the repertoire, such as Stravinsky, Varèse, Hindemith and many Italian (mostly opera) scores. He added a lighter Italian flavor to the orchestra and at the same time contributed to the century old tradition by conducting many Bruckner’s and (like Mengelberg and Haitink) a full Mahler cycle. Chailly was a true media conductor with countless cd’s, television broadcasts and portraits as a wonderful heritage of this period.
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2004 – now Mariss Jansons
For the members of the RCO the election of the Latvian star conductor Mariss Jansons was a simple and clear choice. Since 1988 their relationship has been very strong and, as a completely different character from Chailly and Haitink, has been ideal to write a new chapter in the RCO’s long history of ‘getting better all the time’. With Jansons the orchestra is now playing a full agenda in their hometown of Amsterdam, and still flying to every major festival and concert venue in the world and delivering dozens of new recording every year for the own RCO Live label. The for RCO, the future is bright indeed.
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