COMPOSERS: Beethoven
LABELS: DG
ALBUM TITLE: Beethoven
WORKS: Symphony No. 5; Symphony No. 7
PERFORMER: Simon Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela/Gustavo Dudamel
CATALOGUE NO: 477 6228
The 24-year-old Dudamel is hot
property, and his debut CD is
a bold choice of repertoire. It’s
a showcase for his astonishing
orchestra too – like him a product
of Venezuela’s music education
system, whose purpose is as much
social as artistic. There’s a scarcely
believable freshness and virtuosity
in the playing, though you don’t get
the insights of a Furtwängler or a Toscanini. The opening of the Fifth
Symphony is bright and energetic,
and all the phrasing and dynamic
markings are scrupulously observed.
But I can’t help feeling that they’re
coming from outside the music – the
oboe solo at the beginning of the
recapitulation says it all: beautifully
played, but somehow calculated. It’s
the same with the Andante, where
every note is in its place (and, thanks
to the clarity of the recording, you
can hear all the detail), but there’s
a lack of inner life. I found myself
turning back to Carlos Kleiber,
dynamic and involved.
The Seventh Symphony is more
promising, with a first movement
that really dances, and an Allegretto
which doesn’t get bogged down
in sentiment. In both symphonies
there’s energy and lightness in the
scherzos, and the Seventh also
benefits from a trio which slows
down enough to make a contrast, but
not so much as to put the forward
momentum on hold. No danger of
that in the finale, which is taken so
fast that it seems to skate over the
surface of the music. A major talent,
but not quite there yet. Martin Cotton