Lesson time: (15min 3sec)
This lesson is part of the course Brahms - Symphony No 3
Watch a preview of the full course below.
Lesson transcript:
Location: Letter H
Instructions:
Suggestions:
Feedback:
"I find when I was standing very close to you... Yeah, by eye."
"Try... Even if you make bigger movements, that doesn't... I wouldn't mind that."
Practice:
"Not here. I'm not sure what you're doing, but try once."
"Yes. And then you go back to G and I stay in the environment."
"I will not pester you the whole time, just this beginning."
"Maybe a little bit more wrist would help to relax you a little bit."
"Yeah, once. And then you go back to G. And then I disappear."
"Yeah, yeah. Try from the wrist. Here, let it go here, let it go here to the musicians."
Performance Focus:
"Okay, Michael. And I'll go from letter G with special attention to H."
"He plays that solo many times, very beautiful."
Key Observations:
"Yeah, I think it's not because I was taught not to stare at the soloist."
"Okay."
"And there's another thing here: the poco ritardando."
Next Steps:
Final Instructions:
"Oh, Michael, I would like you to do with the orchestra in any case, the last eight bars."
"In any case, start 10 bars before..."
Important Notes:
"You have the beats of the strings."
"Padam Tie embryonic."
"And also the last bar, as always, is Brahms danger when it ebbs away."
"The last chord takes endless poles."
"There should not be too much and young."
"I would like... Because it's difficult. I would like to try it myself."
Reflection:
"Yeah, the last 11 bars."
"Not perfect, but maybe you..."
"Okay. This is a difficult movement."

With an international conducting career that has spanned more than five decades, Amsterdam-born Bernard Haitink is one of today's most celebrated conductors. Appointed Principal Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from the beginning of the 2006-7 season, he has led many of the world's major orchestras, including more than 25 years at the helm of the Royal Concertgebouw as its music director. In addition, Mr Haitink has previously held posts as music director of the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and the London Philharmonic. He is Conductor Laureate of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Conductor Emeritus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and an honorary member of the Berlin Philharmonic. He has made frequent guest appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio, London Symphony and other leading orchestras. Mr Haitink has recorded widely for the Phillips, Decca and EMI labels, including complete cycles of Mahler, Bruckner, and Schumann symphonies with the Concertgebouw and extensive repertoire with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His most recent recordings are the complete Brahms and Beethoven symphonies with the London Symphony Orchestra on the LSO Live label. His discography also includes many opera recordings with the Royal Opera and Glyndebourne, as well as with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra and Dresden Staatskapelle. Mr Haitink's recording of Janacek's Jenufa with the orchestra, soloists, and chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden received a Grammy Award for best opera recording in 2004. Mr Haitink has received many international awards in recognition of his services to music, including both an honorary Knighthood and the Companion of Honour in the United Kingdom, and the House Order of Orange-Nassau in the Netherlands. He was named Musical America's "Musician of the Year" for 2007. In his MusicGurus course on Brahms' Symphony No. 3, Haitink draws on that lifetime at the podium to take you deep inside the score - how he shapes its phrasing, balance, tempo and structure - offering rare insight into how one of the great conductors reads and brings a Brahms symphony to life, whether you are a conductor, an orchestral player or a passionate listener. read more