This is a quite remarkable
disc in several respects, and, in due
time, I am going to elucidate why I
think so. To begin with though, let
me give some background information
and ventilate some possible objections
to this project.
Venezuela is ‘a country
where 75% of the population lives below
the poverty line,’ - I am quoting Shirley
Apthorp’s liner notes - and where ‘crime
and violence are a way of life for many.’
In the midst of this misery they have
invested in a rich musical life, something
Gustavo Dudamel believes has saved a
lot of young people from becoming involved
in drugs and crime. One can object to
this that possibly very few of those
who take part in an active music life
come from the risk category, but never
mind. When I meet a young person with
a violin case I feel assured that he
or she is not going knock down elderly
people while concerning those with sports
bags I am not always so sure.
It is uplifting to
read that ‘Venezuela, more than any
other country in the world, offers its
youngsters music as a valid alternative
to hardship. In a country with a population
of only 22 million, there are 125 youth
orchestras, 57 children’s orchestras,
and 30 adult professional symphony orchestras.’
These are amazing figures, and therein
lies an explanation as to why it is
that a prestigious company like Deutsche
Grammophon in these times of recession,
takes the risk to launch a disc with
a youth orchestra (the musicians are
between 11 and 25) and with a young
conductor.
It is of course, Gustavo
Dudamel (25), who is the selling point.
He very spectacularly hit the headlines
last year when he stepped in at short
notice for Neeme Järvi and conducted
the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra at
a Proms concert. It was a success, of
course – it always is in Cinderella
stories. Shortly afterwards it was announced
that Deutsche Grammophon had signed
an exclusive contract with Dudamel.
The Gothenburg musicians were so enthusiastic
that Dudamel was pretty soon elected
their new Principal Conductor, starting
in 2007/08. I heard and saw him conduct
what was, I believe, his first concert
in Sweden less than a year ago. This
was with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra,
an excellent provincial - nothing disparaging
in that - middle-sized orchestra. I
wrote a very enthusiastic review
for Seen and Heard . He certainly has
the potential to become a great conductor
and it was far-seeing of Deutsche Grammophon
to hook him. Question is: is this disc
the best way of launching a young promising
conductor – at the helm of a youth orchestra
and playing two of the most played and
most recorded symphonies of all times?
Deutsche Grammophon have in their vaults
either or both of these with Karajan
(three times), Kubelik, Böhm, Bernstein,
Abbado, Giulini, Carlos Kleiber and
probably several others. I didn’t even
bother to look them up. Of course Dudamel
wants to show his credentials as a Beethoven
interpreter, but was it wise to record
him before he was more established?
He had his doubts himself but still
wanted to do it. ‘Not /…/ that he feels
he and his orchestra have more to say
about this repertoire than anybody else;
simply that they have their own voice,’
as Shirley Apthorp puts it. Even with
that saving clause it is, I believe,
unavoidable that listeners and reviewers
start to make comparisons, wrinkle their
foreheads, stick their noses in their
scores and grumble: ‘Furtwängler
didn’t do it like that in any of his
ump-teen recordings, he is much faster
than Karajan here, the strings don’t
have the sheen of the Boston Symphony’s’,
etc, etc. I decided to do none of this.
I had the score for No. 7 and I even
followed it for a while, but then I
put it aside and said: ‘My God, this
young man understands this score much
better than I do, so why bother?’ Literalness
is not always the best means for communication,
and music-making is communication. So
I leaned back and listened, made some
occasional notes but in the main tried
to forget that I was reviewing.
Starting from the beginning
I thought the sound was a little boxy
– not those stone-dead acoustics that
marred Toscanini’s recording in the
notorious Studio 8H but it seemed that
the Aula Magna had rather little reverberation,
which robbed the resulting sound of
some warmth. This also results in a
rawer-than-necessary quality to the
brass. It is acceptable, by all means,
but at premium price one would have
hoped for something better.
The opening movement
of the fifth was fairly brisk and a
little heavy, the Andante lyrical
but maybe too laid back, not enough
con moto for my taste, the two
concluding Allegros were fiery
and brought the symphony to a powerful
end. The sound of the orchestra, apart
from the sonics that is, was good. In
a blindfold test I would not have been
able to identify this as a fairly inexperienced
youth orchestra. A good fifth but it
didn’t quite catch fire.
That was, on the other
hand, exactly what the seventh did.
The many crescendos and diminuendos
in the score were well observed and
the first movement had that ebb and
flow that is so essential in this symphony.
The rest of this "apotheosis of
dance", as the symphony has been
called, was played at white heat and
the final movement’s con brio
could in this reading be amended to
con briosissimo if that word exists.
I enjoyed this seventh enormously.
I can understand readers
who are annoyed that I have not indulged
in close comparative listening, but
I also believe, having been involved
in amateur and semi-professional music
making for the greater part of my life,
that a critic has to adopt different
criteria to different levels of music-making.
My local, amateur-based symphony shouldn’t
be assessed along the same lines as
the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, which
in its turn plays in a slightly lower
division than the Stockholm Philharmonic,
to give an example from Swedish circumstances.
As a reviewer I should be more indulgent
of the odd wrong note, faulty ensemble
etc when I review the amateurs. On the
other hand I can take the professionals
to task for even minor mistakes. The
Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra
is no Berliner Philharmoniker, but in
their own division they are a wonderful
ensemble and should be appreciated as
such. By the same token Gustavo Dudamel
is not – yet – a Karajan, but he might
be one day. He is doing a damn good
job on this disc, especially in the
seventh, which should be heard by everyone
who bothers about the future of classical
music. I can understand readers who
still object and point out that this
disc sells at premium price and should
be assessed along the same lines as
any other premium price disc; there
I tend to agree. EMI have for several
years now had their "Debut"
series, retailing at mid-price or thereabouts.
It would have been fairer to these young
and extremely promising musicians to
be launched that way.
Returning to the initial
paragraph I persist in thinking that
this is a remarkable disc in many ways
– most of all as an encouraging reminder
that classical music is not dying and
that there is an enthusiastic and well
equipped young generation ready to take
over. This could be as good a reason
to buy this disc – and one gets one
of the most electrifying sevenths in
several years in the bargain.
Göran Forsling
Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra
of Venezuela/Gustavo Dudamel 
