Classical Voice Review - LA Philharmonic plays Mahler Symphony No. 9 in D - Gustavo Dudamel conductor, January 15, 2011

wo years after the young Venezuelan maestro took over as the LA Phil’s new Music Director, his rock-star status has not abated one bit. On the contrary, it has grown to mythical heights, where the ‘myth’ baffles the critics as much as the popularity delights the others.

If this performance of Mahler’s valedictory Symphony No. 9 is of any indication, Dudamel has successfully found a middle ground between the extremes, and carved out a masterfully sculpted torso of Mahler’s weary world-view that is embodied in the Ninth Symphony. His naysayers on the East Coast would have been impressed.

True, the extremes were still there – and the dangers of temporary hearing loss. The deafening climax six minutes into the first movement, or the two mighty aural eruptions in the course of the Adagio. At the other end of the spectrum, there were the artfully slow, barely audible closing bars of the Adagio (at 29 minutes, tied with Bernstein’s recording with the Concertgebouw but felt much slower), and the too-slow-to-dance Ländler in the second movement. On the other hand, the Rondo-Burlesque Scherzo finished in a blazing 12 minutes (beating Barbirolli’s account with the Berlin Philharmonic by a full minute). The whole performance lasted a leisurely 86 minutes (vs. Barbirolli’s 79, Bernstein’s 89 and Karajan’s 86 minutes on record).

Remarkably, Dudamel was able to join these musical extremes together with a vivid swath of sounds and details that were simply extraordinary. The L.A. Phil musicians responded to his virtuoso, by now trademark, podium calisthenics with equally virtuoso playing – the horns and strings were particularly outstanding. In writing his final, complete symphony, Mahler had envisioned an ideal orchestra of virtuoso players. A casual perusal of the symphony’s score reveals widely contrasting colors, dynamics and expression to showcase the different sections of the orchestra. Luckily, the L.A. Phil players were more than up to the task in executing Mahler’s wishes. Under their charismatic maestro, they produced countless vivid expressive details- all adding up to one organic, multi-dimensional statement – clearly the sound of an orchestra of great virtuosos, united in a common musical cause. The unison violin lines at the beginning of the Adagio sounded like many violins striving together rather than one super-violin.

In his first tour with the L.A. Phil last year, the consensus among out-of-town critics on Dudamel was something like “a boy wonder who has a lot of growing up to do”. Now, on the strength of this Mahler’s Ninth, I believe we are witnessing the first signs of maturing of Dudamel’s natural genius. I look forward to more enlightening concerts with the young maestro in the coming weeks.

To purchase tickets for Los Angeles Philharmonic's 2011/12 season, call (323) 850-2000 or visit online www.laphil.org

Truman C. Wang is editor-in-chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Pasadena Star-News, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily.