5.0 out of 5 stars
Dudamel & Berliner (GmbH)
Reviewed in Italy on 16 January 2014
I will not speak of Maestro Dudamel. Reason n. 0, he is too nice a chap.... Ok, let's begin again.
I will not speak of Maestro Dudamel, first of all because the plain fact is that we are still building up a conductor, like we did several times in the past with others, and I think only polite not to judge the construction while it is largely in progress; in second place, speaking of him would inevitably fall in a confrontation with other musicians, a bad habit of poor-minded reviewers who don't know that every single performance must be judged in itself, in its aesthetic idea, or plan, or view, if any there actually is. In third and last but not least row, reviewers, these strange inhabitants of Perfectopolis, notoriously don't know any good conductor: so, how mucho bad is or is not, or will become, Señor Dudamel, History will tell; why should I now? I mean that our minds will be clearer when they will name the third concert hall after him... and if you think that this is pure envy, well: it is! Nobody named a concert hall after a reviewer, thus ignoring (which is bad) or forgetting (which is worse) all the strenuous, dark and sometimes very difficult work of building up conductors, singers and.... Enough. I will instead negotiate with the orchestral performance, which I found illuminating, full of suggestions and opportunities for inspiration and reflection.
Also sprach Zarathustra: listen, for instance, to the overwhelming vibrato of the strings in the lyric section after sunrise (page 10 of the old 444 Eulenburg): you could cut & paste it in an ought-to-make "vibrato anthology"; or take the 2nd violins tremolo at page 19, before and under the "Magnificat" Organ tune, especially when they divide the section from three to four. We can also hear a very unusual combination of sounds at the climax of das Grablied (pages 52-53) and we feel dominate the virtuoso playing all the piece long. The same in Don Juan, where the violas touch at bar 84 (page 26 of the Eulenburg 440) simply match oboe's bravura from page 68 on, but not the nonchalance of the comma at bar 301 (page 69), few moments before the great horn Theme.
About Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, if I were one of the above mentioned poor-minded reviewers, I wouldn't miss the juicy opportunity to point out that the 6 first bars, I mean the famous "Once upon a time" sequence just before the (other famous) horn Theme, are simply enchanted, or better suspended, in all their 22 seconds; yes, full 22", when other conductors sing a different song, and - Ja, das ist mein lustig Streich - guess who are they? Kr 14", S 16", T 16", Abend 16", v K 17", Kl 17", Ke 17", Celi47 17", Celi62 17", nine more 17", then Celi71 18", at last F 1954 with 19". And now, 22". If you need a reason to buy this CD, here it is. So, if I were an ordinary reviewer.... Luckily I walk a different path, you know; thence I will not comment the Circumstance, in all its Pomp. I shall only say that the Berliners really display all their firmness in sustaining such a beat, as they do in the last pages of the score.
Let's round up the matter: we have some honest and mastery mainstream renderings, dotted with tasty details, nearly always virtuoso ones; a super-normal performance, if you believe in such things. But if you are longing for a merry joke from Gustavo, wait for the next issue.