In Thursday’s (12/13) New York Times, Anthony Tommasini writes, “It is typical for orchestras of well-trained young musicians to convey exuberance. The players of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, under their charismatic music director Gustavo Dudamel, were afire with exuberance during two sold-out programs at Carnegie Hall on Monday and Tuesday nights. … I am tempted to call it cool confidence, though that would give a wrong impression of the impassioned, natural performances the orchestra gave to bring Carnegie Hall’s monthlong festival Voices From Latin America to a rousing conclusion.” The orchestra is part of Venezuela’s musician-training program, El Sistema, from which Dudamel graduated. “From the opening work on Monday, the Mexican composer Carlos Chávez’s ‘Sinfonía India,’ the technical command and aural richness of the playing made clear why this orchestra, which gave its Carnegie Hall debut in 2007 with two programs, dropped the word youth from its title last year. … Tuesday’s program began with what had been missing so far: a recent work by a composer of the current generation: Esteban Benzecry, a 42-year-old Argentine who settled in Paris in the late 1990s. In recent years Mr. Benzecry has been commissioned by major international orchestras. Mr. Dudamel conducted ‘Chaac,’ a section of a larger work ‘Rituales Amerindios.’ ”
Posted December 13, 2012
