Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Symphonies 5 & 7

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gustavo Dudamel is clearly an extraordinarily talented young conductor, and I look forward to hearing him grow with the LA Phil. While interesting, these recordings are not the interpretations of a mature conductor who has fully worked his way to an understanding of Beethoven. The orchestra, while excellent for a youth orchestra, is not world class. And the recording itself is not one of DG's best.

I think this CD is well worth listening to for the energy and potential Dudamel manifests. But with so many great recordings of these symphonies available, this is not among the best. This is a purchase for someone who already has one (or several) great recordings of these symphonies, and is looking for an opportunity to make the musical acquaintance of the young maestro Dudamel. Someday he will make mature recordings of these symphonies, and it will be interesting to look back at this disk and see how he grew.

Highly touted young Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel makes his recording debut on this DG disc in the Beethoven 5th and 7th. There are a good many things to recommend this disc, not the least of which is that the orchestra is excellent for anywhere- when one considers that they are a youth orchestra, well, that's even better. They follow Dudamel's sense of shape and line very well, and I had no complaints about intonation.

The real star of the show, of course, is Dudamel- having conducted ensembles since the tender age of 12, the recording shows every bit of his experienced manner. He has the practiced ear of one who not only has been conducting for years, but moreover has specific ideas about the external and internal movement and form of the symphonic sound. His aforementioned sense of shape and line are well developed: listen to his opening of the Fifth, the control of the crescendos and tempo of the Andante movement, and finally the youthful vigor and energy of the fourth movement Allegro. But while his execution is surprisingly good, it is apparent that it has not come full flower yet: it should be no surprise that, in his mid-twenties, Dudamel is currently in the early stages of what will become a recognizable style and flair with an orchestra. If this debut disc is any indication of things to come (and, someone at DG needs a talking to: do we really need another Fifth and Seventh?!?) Dudamel's is certainly a talent to keep a close watch on for the future.

I find Gustavo Dudamel Beethoven's 5th and 7th refreshing, original, electric, exciting, magical but above all beautiful. It was like hearing these old favorites for the first time. I was first drawn to an articulation of lines, threads in Beethoven's fabric, that I'd never noticed, or perhaps better said, never noted before. Room is made for the diversity of line -- each can be heard, each contributing to the whole.

The interpretation is fresh. Most noticed by me were the slow tempi: patience leaving room for dramatics, for accumulation. But Dudamel and friends aren't shy when it comes to allegro con brio, as in the close to the seventh. Slightly faster than von Karajan, they make Kleiber and Norrington seem positively pokey. But the pace isn't simply show-off speed, rather a breezy flight to the finish with sweep and drive.

Maestro Dudamel is able to extract brilliance from his orchestra, the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. Don't let that "youth orchestra" fool you. There's nothing second rate with their playing. And it's not just virtuosity, they play as one mind, with both softness and energy as called for. To be sure the CD is well recorded. The sound is clear and crisp. Not the muddle we've learned to live with from the late analog years.

I've listened to this CD a dozen times in the last week. I really believe it will stand the test of time. Surely I will continue to listen to my other interpretations, but Gustova Dudamel now gets my first listen for these old favorites.

Subtlety, nuance, and elegance may not be the strong points of this recording of Beethoven's tried and true symphonies 5 and 7, but DGG has jumped the gun for capturing and signing one of the more exciting young conductors on the scene today by introducing him with known works played by his own youth ensemble, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. What this recording lacks in the line of the grand old men of the podium it makes up for in the spirit and obvious musicality that makes Dudamel infectious. For the recording of these symphonies it is a highly respectable rendering: as an introduction to the conductor Gustavo Dudamel it does not even begin to suggest the prodigious gifts of this young dynamo!

This listener had the extreme fortune to be present when Dudamel recently mounted the podium before the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the Disney Hall to lavish his rapt audience with his charismatic persona, his complete commitment to the music, his oneness with the orchestra (not an easy assignment for a novice in front of one of the world's finest orchestras), and the thrill of hearing difficult works as though they had just been written. Opening with Kodály's 'Dances of Galanta', Dudamel found every detail of this richly orchestrated score a reason for discovery. It is the first time this listener has every appreciated the piece as a completely original work. He then collaborated with guest soloist Yefim Bronfman in the quintessential Rachmaninov 3rd, revealing orchestral facets too often hidden in routine performances. He then turned to Bartók's challenging 'Concerto for Orchestra' to prove his mettle. The orchestra fully embraced his precise conducting technique, his penchant for passionate music making, and his attention to metric details that can throw even the most seasoned of conductors. It was an astonishing experience and one that captured not only the minds and hearts of the orchestra but those of the audience as well.

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the innately musical, powerful presence and career opening of the humble but brilliant Gustavo Dudamel! Grady Harp, January 07

Maybe we didn't need another recording of Beethoven's 5th and 7th symphonies, but now that Dudamel's Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra has provided one, I'm glad he did.

Aside from the really compelling part of this story--that Dudamel scoops homeless and indigent kids off Venezuelan streets and gives them something to live for, saving them, and not coincidentally adding an enormous new talent pool to the music world--this is a vibrant recording, into which these kids have poured their new lives.

I'm delighted to have heard the results on a recent drive, and recommend this recording highly to all lovers of classical music--even those who already own more than one copy of each of these symphonies.

It' s very difficult for me to talk - as Venezuelan citizen - with meridian objectivity, about the stature and mercurial emotional power Dudamel confers to every score he conducts. He has been born with that ominous inner fire, in order to express with admirable eloquence, the oneness contained in the core of every Opus conducted by him.

The countless testimonials all around the world seem to confirm it. This prodigious and very young master of the baton (26) simply has no limits, so we will really hope and wish from him to lead us for unexplored roads into the enormous musical universe.

Bravo maestro!

Somehow this particular version moved me. Maybe I was not expecting much from it, but it has some undelying force in the music that really touched some fiber in me. And that I think is the signal of a great musical performance.

What an experience to behold: A beautiful, young powerhouse at the helm of an incredibly amazing orchestra of young people who are product of an equally impressive musical educational system. The other part of the equation that makes this recording even more sublime is that they are interpreting the music of Beethoven - his Symphonies 5 and 7. Gustavo Dudamel, THE MAESTRO OF THE 21ST CENTURY, commands every nuance, note to dance, cry, sing - to provoke and reach to the inner depths of the soul. The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela delivers each work with power, sensitivity with its exceptional form of musicianship and expression that leaves one yearning for more!!

Music is a healing potion designed to create joy and move the human spirit. As I listen to this recording, I am deeply reminded of the beauty and grandeur that creativity offers to make life a wonderful place in which to be a part.

It is refreshing to learn of a charasmatic young conductor who inspires both his musicians and his listeners. It is important that new and young audiences have the opportunity to fall in love with classical music.

Although I love Beethoven's symphonies, I have tended to spend my listening and reviewing time of late with less familiar repertoire. I am trying to hear music less than familiar to me and to share my understanding of it. But there is seldom any need to hesitate in hearing Beethoven. Thus, when a friend urged me to hear Gustavo Dudamel's recording with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Beethoven's 5th and 7th symphonies and offered to lend me the CD, I was more than glad to take him up on the offer. The opportunity to hear the youth orchestra was an important part of the appeal of this recording.

From the reviews here and elsewhere, many listeners have become genuinely enthusiastic about this CD. It is appropriate and desirable for people, especially classical music newcomers, to become excited by Maestro Dudamel and by these performances.

The problem, such as it is, lies in the welter of recordings of these two symphonies. Competition is fierce. Inevitably, in listening to these performances, I had in the mind's eye my recollections of other experiences with these works. I found the performances on this CD exciting and good, but they didn't teach me anything new about Beethoven. This is not to fault the recordings. They are fine efforts in an overcrowded field.

With the conductor and the orchestra's magnetic presence, these recordings make excellent introductions to two classic symphonies. I hope they will reach a wide audience and will encourage listeners to hear more Beethoven and more music by other composers. I hope Maestro Dudamel too will go on to success and to great accomplishment.

Robin Friedman

I own several recordings of both simphonies recorded here, including the legendary recordings that Carlos Kleiber did in the 70s and were issued as a couple just exactly like this one.
Granted, Probably Kleiber's or Karajan's recordings might be superior in some aspects, but I consider that having several recordings of the same work is useful mostly because, as Dudamel points out, everyone has it's own voice and in every recording you can discover something new.
In this case, you have an enormously charismatic performance, inspired, techinally excelent and filled with the characteristic energy of young people. This is a version of both works that you would like to play over and over, probably between Kleiber and Karajan or Abbado or Rattle....
Thank God for music programs like this, it's the kind of stuff that every goverment should be doing, because music is certainly a universal language that can get people closer.
Put attention to the final movements of each work, you hardly will find performances so alive as this one, not even among the greatest conductors.
Congratulations Young Fellas, don't miss your energy and never quit music.