Eduard Van Beinum (1901-1958) was the principal conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam for two decades, succeeding Mengelberg as Music Director. Van Beinum’s style of conducting was direct but sensitive. An unassuming, solid musician, he sought to grasp the music’s inner motivations, transform them into sound through his own energy, so that the music was conveyed to listeners as directly and purely as possible.

He was not an authoritarian like Mengelberg and when he first assumed leadership of the Concertgebouw he was criticized for being so unassuming. He would be totally out-of-place in today’s superficial world of conductors. His career was based on solid musicianship and a total lack of self-glorification, the antithesis of the pompous Herbert von Karajan in decades past, and some other pretentious conductors of the present.

On the occasion of receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Amsterdam, he described his task as conductor: "...to serve as an intermediary between the listener and the composer, whose musical thoughts must be expressed as purely and honestly as possible, to achieve this through an ideal unity, an ideal co-operation between the intentions of the conductor and the orchestra." Van Beinum respected his musicians and considered them to be colleagues. His concept was that he and his orchestra were making music together. Bart van Beinum, the composer’s son, described his father’s attitude concisely and accurately by pointing out that for him it was less a matter of "interpreting" a score than of "realizing" it. He sought to grasp its inner motivations, transform them into sound through his own energy, so that the music was conveyed to listeners as directly and purely as possible.

This set offers the collector some of Beinum’s earliest 78 rpm recordings, many of which have never before been in this format. His colorful 1948 recording of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra was the second recording of the work (the first was Fritz Reiner’s, the work’s dedicatee, with the Pittsburgh Symphony, for Columbia). Beinum’s incredibly dynamic interpretation of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring is one of the most exciting of all; unfortunately, from a sound standpoint this is one of the least successful early Decca/London recordings. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 is an example of Van Beinum’s superb gifts as an accompanist. The 1947 recording of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 is his first of the work; with the advent of LP he recorded it again in May 1953 although some collectors feel the earlier one is superior. Another work he recorded twice is the set of orchestral excerpts from Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes. His first recording, dating from September 1947 and issued only on 78s, is included here; his later recording was made in September 1953, issued on LP (actually on CD as well, briefly, when Decca released the Peter Grimes Interludes [but not the Passacaglia] coupled with the premiere performance of Britten’s Spring Symphony, recorded live July 9, 1949 [440 063, nla]). Symphony fantastique of Berlioz was a great favorite of Van Beinum’s; he actually recorded it three times. The first was in September 1943 for DGG/Polydor and never issued. His second is the one heard in this set, recorded for Decca/London in September 1946, issued on six 78 rpm discs. He made a third recording in September 1951, issued on Decca/London LP. Technical reconstruction (1999) by Maggi Payne.