FIESTA (South American orchestral music)
Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela/Gustavo Dudamel

SILVESTRE REVUELTAS (1899–1940) [1] Sensemayá (Mexico)
INOCENTE CARREÑO (*1919) [2] Margariteña (Venezuela)
ANTONIO ESTÉVEZ (1916–1988) [3] Mediodía en el Llano (Venezuela)
ARTURO MÁRQUEZ (*1950) [4] Danzón no. 2 (Mexico)
ALDEMARO ROMERO (1928–2007) [5] Fuga con Pajarillo (Venezuela) from Suite for Strings no. 1 (orchestral version)
ALBERTO GINASTERA (1916–1983) Dances from the ballet "Estancia" op. 8 (Argentina) [6] 1. Los trabajadores agrícolas [7] 2. Danza del trigo [8] 3. Los peones de hacienda [9] 4. Danza final (Malambo)
EVENCIO CASTELLANOS (1915–1984) [10] Santa Cruz de Pacairigua (Venezuela) Symphonic Suite LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918–1990) [11] Mambo Symphonic Dance from "West Side Story"

Deutsche Grammophon CD 4778337

"It's all about dance, about rhythm" is Deutsche Grammophon's chosen quote from Dudamel to promote their CD of Latin American music Fiesta [477 8337].

That was what wowed the Proms and its TV audience last year and is doing so again now at its South Bank Centre residency in London.

The music is all played with energy and commitment; the problem is that this is indeed very physical music and the visual factor is important, maybe essential. So this Caracas recording might disappoint or, at least, pall for Musical Pointers readers on playing right through or on repeated hearings. Maybe best wait for a DVD and play it on up-to-date equipment.

PETER GRAHAME WOOLF

See also Dudamel rehearsing the Rite of Spring with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra.

John Adams City Noir
Mahler Symphony No.1

Los Angeles Philharmonic/Dudamel

Deutsche Grammophon DVD 073 4531

Here is the established Dudamel, no longer just an exotic phenomenon from a little known musical centre in South America, but now musical director of a major orchestra.

Los Angeles Philharmonic's opening night concert (October 8th 2009) has an obligatory American premiere which, to our ears, is not one of John Adams' best.

Dudamel's Mahler First, however, is a triumph on DVD, the physicality of this conductor's presence gaining from watching him, and seeing how the players do so too. The interpretation is one with extremes in tempi and intensity; a young composer's vision of his world interpreted by a youthful conductor revelling in his powers. See how he begins the 3rd movement with tremendous authority; irresistible.

Dudamel can be seen quite a lot on Sky Arts Two, where his Beethoven has impressed hugely. He is destined to grow with maturity and to be a central firgure on the world's podiums, as Simon Rattle became in the previous generation.

Peter Grahame Woolf