Browse Music
Rock & Pop
R&B & Hip-Hop
Country
Blues
Jazz
Classical
Latin
Christian
Soundtracks
Collections
Gustavo Dudamel
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5
Gustavo Dudamel:  Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

$6.99
Listen

Album Review

Released: 2009
Label: DG
Selection #: 174753
Award-winning conductor Gustavo Dudamel leads Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra in the E-minor epic (Op. 64) and Francesca da Rimini (Op. 32).
Listen RM WM
1 Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64: 1. Andante - Allegro con anima
2 Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64: 2. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza - Moderato con anima Andante mosso - Allegro non troppo -
3 Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64: 3. Valse: Allegro moderato
4 Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64: 4. Finale: Andante maestoso - Allegro vivace - Molto vivace Moderato assai e molto maestoso - Pres
5 Francesca da Rimini, symphonic fantasy for orchestra in E minor, Op. 32
  
Download Player:    Real Media Real Media    Windows Media Windows Media
Album Review

Youthful conductor Gustavo Dudamel has created a sensation with his critically acclaimed recordings of standard repertoire by Beethoven, Berlioz, and Mahler, and with his Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, he takes on one more warhorse, the Symphony No. 5 In E Minor by Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, with impressive results. Not that there's ordinarily much justification for producing yet another recording of this overly recorded work, especially when so many legendary performances have been reissued and new ones seem to appear on a monthly basis. Yet an exception to this complaint can be made in Dudamel's case because he obviously has something important to say in this 2008 performance that adds to our understanding of the symphony and doesn't just provide a novel twist to extremely familiar music. From the outset, Dudamel treats the score as if it were brand new and not covered in accretions of past performances: the rhythmic details and full orchestration of the Allegro stand out in high relief; the lyricism of the Andante cantabile is touching and hauntingly tragic; the Valse is delicate and picante, yet surprisingly ominous; and the Finale is considerably shorn of bombast thanks to the real explosiveness and fury Dudamel inspires in the musicians. Taken altogether, the pacing of the symphony is also given a makeover, insofar as Dudamel lets it go at its own speed and doesn't rush to get to the big climaxes, but lets the tempos and phrasing develop according to necessity. Of course, some listeners will find Dudamel's interpretation and the orchestra's execution neither daring nor different enough to matter, and for them this symphony has probably already worn out its welcome, along with the popular symphonic fantasia Francesca Da Rimini, which is provided as fiery filler. This is a marvelously insightful reading of the Fifth that has genuine emotion and a feeling of organic unfolding and inevitability that makes it feel like great music again. ~ Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide

Back To Top
About This Artist
Biography


Other albums by: Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Dudamel:  Fiesta Listen Gustavo Dudamel
Fiesta

$6.99

more

Any reproduction, publication, further distribution, or public exhibition of materials provided at this site, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited.
©2006 All Media Guide, LLC
Portions of content provided by All Music Guide®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC