Concert Review: A Change of Seasoning

Spicy South American music with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Gustavo Dudamel at the helm of the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2016 Carnegie Hall.

The career of Gustavo Dudamel has been inextricably entwined with the rise of Venezuela as a source of classical music performers, thanks to that country's El Sistema program that promotes music education to youth through the formation and training of orchestras. The Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela is the flagship of that program. On Friday night, they played the second of three concerts at Carnegie Hall, and the first program following the season opening gala the night before.

DVD Review: Bigger Than Infinity

Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Mahler Eighth.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel. 

Even when it is measured against Mahler's other nine enormous symphonies, the Symphony No. 8 in E♭ is ambitious. Working in a white-hot creative fever in the summer of 1906, the composer discarded traditional symphonic form for a two-part structure. Part I is a gigantic setting of the medieval hymn "Veni, creator spiritus!" a massive opening shout that can deafen an audience and overload even the most durable speakers. Mahler follows this peroration with a Part II that is twice as long: a setting of the impenetrable (and very mystic) final scene from Part II of Goethe's Faust.

Concert Review: Rain Gods and Singing Devils

Gustavo Dudamel brings South American choral works to Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Depiction of the Mayan water god, Chaac.

Conducting sensation Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela concluded their three-day stand at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday night with a program that offered a two South American choral works along with part of a new composition by Argentinean composer Esteban Benzecry.

Mr. Benzecry, who attended the concert, dedicated his Rituales Amerindos, which he describes as a "Pre-Columbian triptych" to Mr. Dudamel, who has conducted the complete work elsewhere. For this concert, the conductor chose Chaac (Mayan Water God), the central section that depicts the worship of the elephant-nosed deity of rain and thunder in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico.

This slow, contemplative movement incorporates exotic percussion to evoke the rituals of Mayan water worship. The whoosh-and-patter of a rain stick is echoed by deep grumbles in the double basses and contrabassoon. Mr. Benzecry calls for a huge orchestra, but uses his resources in a spare, economical way. The result is fascinating, and contemplative, and left this listener wanting to hear the whole piece. (It hasn't been released on disc, but the work is available on YouTube, conducted by Mr. Dudamel.)

Concert Review: The Sistema Works

The Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela returns to Carnegie Hall.

The Passion of the Dude: Gustavo Dudamel in action.
Photo © Los Angeles Philharmonic.

In 2007, the Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela created a New York sensation with their appearances at Carnegie Hall under te baton of their young maestro, Gustavo Dudamel. Five years later, Mr. Dudamel and the orchestra have returned for a two-night stand as part of Carnegie Hall's season-long intitiative, Voices of Latin America. (Mr. Dudamel serves as one of the four artistic advisors on the series' content.)

Mr. Dudamel is now 30, and the word "Youth" has vanished from the orchestra's posters.

Indeed, one thing that could be said for this ambitious program of Latin American classics (presented on Monday night at Carnegie Hall) is that the players, groomed in the Venezuelan government's ballyhooed El Sistema program have a tremendous sense of what it takes to play as an ensemble. And  Mr. Dudamel, formerly of their ranks conducts these vast forces without a score, using an easy a command born of long familiarity and musical collaboration.

All three works on this program would challenge any orchestra. Eduardo Chávez's Sinfonía india led off, a twelve-minute work that draws inspiration from Mayan source material. Chavez was an important Mexican composer from the 1930s. His tonal language bears some similarity to the Latin-flavored works of Aaron Copland, with inventive percussion and wind writing evoking the ancient rituals of the Yucatan peninsula.