EIF: Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela: Gustavo Dudamel conducts Mahler
Usher Hall - 26/08/23
We were treated to a very rare phenomenon in Edinburgh tonight, a standing ovation for the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, conducted by their exuberant maestro, Gustavo Dudamel. There are certain countries (I’m thinking particularly of the Netherlands here) where, if you don’t receive a standing ovation after a performance, you reckon you have done badly. However, in 50 years of concert going in my hometown, I could count the number of spontaneous standing ovations on the fingers of one hand!
This was a memorable occasion. You could feel and see the Dudamel effect instantly. The Usher Hall was packed to the rafters, including the Organ Gallery, with a much younger audience than usual, and there was a palpable sense of excitement running through the hall. I remember when I first saw the Venezuelan Wunderkind in 2008, conducting the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Berlioz’s ‘Symphonie Fantastique’ in this same hall, and indeed remember the snobbery of certain critics at the time who were quick to slate his flamboyance and showmanship. Fifteen years on, and now with greying hair but no less flamboyance, Mr Dudamel conducted a most fabulous Mahler Symphony No 1, performing this time with his own Venezuelan players. No longer a youth orchestra, but with almost no instrumentalists with grey hair, these young stars were obviously loving performing with their illustrious compatriot, and it was clear that there were quite a few in the audience too.
First of all, however, we heard two works by Venezuelan composers: ‘Guasamacabra’ by Paul Desenne and ‘Odisea’ a concerto for cuatro and orchestra by Gonzalo Grau, with Jorge Glem as soloist. Although played to the hilt by Dudamel and the orchestra, I can’t say that I was particularly taken with either piece. ‘Guasamacabra’ seemed the sort of generic modernist work that composers have been churning out for the last 50 years, with no discernible form or purpose other than to make a loud noise. Based on a Venezuelan musical genre, guasa, nonsense poetry set to simple tunes, the composer, Paul Desenne, who died recently aged 64, has created a short piece, built around a 5-note rhythm. Desenne was a cellist and member of the orchestra, as well as a composer, and clearly Mr Dudamel and the players held him in great respect, but his rather pretentious notes for the piece, written in 2018 when Venezuela was going through a dodgy political period, betray a somewhat overblown sense of sophistication which I found lacking in the music.
Something of the same could be said about the second piece in the first half, a concerto for cuatro and orchestra, ‘Odisea’. The cuatro is a Venezuelan instrument like a small guitar or large mandolin, and the concerto was written for the amazing cuatro virtuoso, Jorge Glem. Wearing a natty red hat, Mr Glem revealed an extraordinary facility on his instrument in this concerto which he recently premiered with Mr Dudamel in Los Angeles. Even with amplification, the cuatro had trouble fighting above the sound of the orchestra which features large numbers of percussion creating a South American sound, and it was only really in the extended cadenza that we heard the full wonder of the instrument and its exponent. Mr Glem played a fantastic couple of encores, (presumably) improvisations on famous tunes (the ‘Ode to Joy’ featured heavily) and we broke for the interval sated with the sounds of Venezuela.
The meat of the concert was the First Symphony of Gustav Mahler, one of the most astounding first symphonies of any composer. Premiered in Budapest in 1889, and again in Hamburg in 1893, without the extra movement, Blumine, from the first performance, it must have blown away those first audiences. Nothing like this had ever been heard before, a symphonic work of such invention and audacity, with military brass, Jewish Klezmer music, Austrian Ländler, bird calls, Frère Jacques (Bruder Martin in German) in the minor and the most exciting finale of any previous symphony. That this was written and conducted by a thirty something, German-speaking Jew from Bohemia added to the fascination. Even now, it seems amazing, and is always a special event live in concert. Performed by Gustavo Dudamel and his wonderful young Venezuelans at the Usher Hall made this a special occasion indeed. Right from the start, when the orchestra began with almost no indication from the conductor, we knew we were in for a thrilling ride, and the Venezuelans didn’t disappoint. Controlled and shaped by the charismatic Dudamel, perhaps the most flamboyant conductor since Leonard Bernstein (also interestingly, a superb conductor of Mahler), or the young Simon Rattle, conducting without a score, the performance drew us into the heart of Mahler’s world, and threw us out at the end inspired and overwhelmed into that amazing standing ovation. A great solo from bassist, Jorge Moreno, at the start of the second movement, spirited woodwind and brass throughout, stirring timpanist work, beautiful violin playing from the leader, Carlos Vegas, and thrilling front-facing horns at the climax of the finale, all combined to create a most wonderful performance, deliciously topped off by two encores of wildly enjoyable South American music, with the orchestra playing, standing, singing and generally fooling around, draped in Venezuelan colours.
An unforgettable ending to an unforgettable concert!
Cover photo: Stephan Rabold
