Dudamel puts his stamp on PSO concert
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Despite being the face of classical music, Gustavo Dudamel is rather self-effacing.
When Mr. Dudamel, the celebrated music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, walked on stage Friday to lead the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in concert for the first time, he didn’t pause to bask in the applause of the crowd that had filled Heinz Hall to see him conduct.
If anything, did he look a bit uneasy as he ascended the conductor’s podium? Earlier this week, he told me he hadn’t made a debut with an orchestra for six years, and he was a bit nervous before his first rehearsal with the orchestra on Wednesday.
It’s worth remembering that the relationship between an orchestra and a conductor, even one as famous as Mr. Dudamel, is a delicate one. But for the PSO and Mr. Dudamel, the connection was there, and one hopes Friday’s concert represents the first of many collaborations between the 36-year-old Venezuelan conductor and the orchestra.
Mr. Dudamel, who just returned from a European tour, was tapped last month to replace the injured conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi and selected three pieces from the standard Germanic repertoire for his debut. (No small feat, mind you, to have Strauss’ “Don Juan,” Wagner’s “Tannhauser” Overture and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 memorized and at one’s fingertips.)
Mr. Dudamel’s brand as a conducting wunderkind grew faster than his artistic reputation, and he was subject to plenty of criticism during his first U.S. tour with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2010. Given how much attention has been paid to his persona (and based on videos on YouTube), I was expecting a very personality-driven style. Instead, I was struck by how balletic his gestures were; they were especially easy to view because the podium did not have the usual protective back rail.
More than the other pieces, Mr. Dudamel put his interpretive stamp on Beethoven’s symphony. He added pleasant twists on the familiar: slowing down in the coda of the first movement, as if to take a look around at the material Beethoven had left there, and offering a dramatic, loud-to-soft dynamic leap during one variation of the second movement.
And the orchestra was quite responsive, the meaty and articulate playing from the strings in the fughetta of the third movement contrasting with the pizzicato that followed. The quiet transition to the fourth movement did not give away too much of the glorious finale.
He let the orchestra do most of the work in a fast, expressive performance of “Don Juan,” which was full of edge and brassiness. If anything, this performance could have used more breathing room. Principal oboist Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida offered a rich, chestnut tone and searching quality in her solo, while the horns gleamed in their melody.
The orchestra’s sound became rounder and more fantastical for Wagner’s overture, exhibited by the creamy-toned introduction by the horns, clarinets and bassoons.
The orchestra was vigorous under Mr. Dudamel, but he certainly wasn’t the only reason. These works were well within the PSO’s stylistic wheelhouse, and it has released recordings of “Don Juan” and Beethoven’s Fifth in the past few years. If he was your draw, be sure to note that the orchestra can play some mean Strauss or Beethoven with plenty of other folks on the podium.
Soovin Kim, a faculty member at the New England Conservatory, was guest concertmaster.