It’s fortuitous that Deutsche Grammophon recorded this live Bartók Concerto for Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel back in January of this year; his recent appointment as the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s next music director adds a certain intrigue, and lends definite marketability to this recording. The 26-year-old Venezuelan conductor already has made quite a reputation on the international music scene.
That’s all well and good, you might say, but how does he conduct Bartók? Well, Dudamel mostly lives up to the hype–the hype being a youthful and energetic interpreter who brings a refreshing vivacity to his performances. This Concerto for Orchestra has plenty of surface excitement, a good deal of which is provided by the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s polished virtuosity and expertise with the score (they recorded it previously, and quite well with outgoing music director Esa-Pekka Salonen).
Dudamel effectively captures the music’s dynamism with muscular phrasing, pointed rhythms, and solid tempos. The strings sound most impressive in this performance, from the low rumblings of the Introduzione to the anguished swooning of the Elegia and the rapidly swirling figurations of the finale. The brass do well too, although the players sound too relaxed in the first movement’s great fugal climax. The woodwinds, however, tend to lack personality, but this may be due to their frequently being submerged by the other orchestral sections (the only flaw in an otherwise fine-sounding live recording). Dudamel properly projects the humor of the Intermezzo and generates sufficient excitement in the finale, which ends with an impressive orchestral flourish.
In short, Dudamel does the job–but we’ve come to expect more from a performance of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, especially when there are recordings, all in fine sound, by conductors who either knew or were contemporaries of the composer (one, Boulez, is still living), not to mention Salonen’s excellent version with this same orchestra. Listen to how Kubelik makes his Boston Symphony performance radiate an inner life through his meticulous attention to color, dynamics, and rhythm (the wind playing is exceptionally vivid, while the Boston brass are peerless). Then there’s Bernstein, who with the New York Philharmonic exudes a drive and energy that makes Dudamel sound somewhat middle-aged by comparison.
One day Dudamel may achieve a more insightful mastery of the score and will craft an interpretation that bears his personal stamp. As it stands, his recording is mainly for those curious about this new “hot” conductor. At a price of $5.99 (available via download exclusively from iTunes), it’s a curiosity easily satisfied. [8/6/2007]
