http://grimaud-credo.com/artistmicrosite/DUDGU/en/media_player.htmsThat is the address to hear excerpts from the first three movements of Mahler 5 with Dudamel leading his Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra. Not bad!
In the first movement, I like how you can actually hear the muted snare drum part underneath the slow funeral procession (several minutes in). You can almost never hear that! The start of the second movement is quite fast and exciting. He also isn't too slow with the second movement's, second subject: basically, a reprise of the first movement's funeral procession, combined with the symphony's opening motto played by the woodwinds, and immitated throughout the orchestra (actually, it's a Beethoven's 5th variant of the symphony's opening fanfare figure: sixteenth notes instead of triplets). The third movement excerpt finds Dudamel trapped in a tempo that's slightly too slow, but then he immediately snaps out of it where he clearly needs to. That excerpt basically captures the second major climax of the movement, as well as the movement's concluding coda. Nicely done!
Being that I'm not an official card-carrying member of the "slower is better" camp
, this release appeals to me.
Barry
Topic: Dudamel M5 (DG) excerpts (Read 3374 times)