Here's something you might be interested in.
I watched a complete performance of Mahler’s Symphonie No. 2 on the YouTube. It was from last year’s Proms. The performance was by the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra and the conductor was Gustavo Dudamel.
I’d seen the name "Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra" around but had never taken the time to investigate exactly what it was. I’d also never seen a start to finish performance by Dudamel.
Something tells me I’m confessing too much ignorance here. I’m not afraid of it. I can tell you now, there is more I don’t know about classical music than I do know.
That’s probably true for just about everyone, I hope. Classical music is so vast that a seemingly great amount of knowledge doesn’t amount to much. I’m getting off track. We’ll revisit this.
When Dudamel was announced as the music director for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2007, I kind of wrote it off. He was 26 at the time and I thought it was a gamble by the philharmonic but one that made sense.
With Los Angeles’ rich Latin history and culture, hiring a Latin conductor seemed like a sensible move to enhance the presence of classical music in the community—but he was 26. I finally decided to give in and find out what Dudamel mania was all about.
I watched this Mahler performance with tears in my eyes from start to finish. Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar players forced me to leap off the couch and pound the floor with my fists. I had no choice. The only viable option open was to beat the hell out of the floor and shout, “Yes, yes, that’s it!”
There were other options but none viable.
The musicians themselves were beautiful. They were young, fresh, and had more hair than a truck load of 80's "Glam-Rock" bands.
The connection between the orchestra and Dudamel was one I’d never seen before in classical music—or any music for that matter.
It wasn’t respect.
It wasn’t admiration.
It was straight-up love. It appeared to be a deep and abiding love for what they were doing and for who they were.
Then I found out there was a story behind the love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZzFruQCofM&list=FLSs8QLxTmspcJJMgJig4wFw&index=2&feature=plpp_video
I watched a complete performance of Mahler’s Symphonie No. 2 on the YouTube. It was from last year’s Proms. The performance was by the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra and the conductor was Gustavo Dudamel.
I’d seen the name "Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra" around but had never taken the time to investigate exactly what it was. I’d also never seen a start to finish performance by Dudamel.
Something tells me I’m confessing too much ignorance here. I’m not afraid of it. I can tell you now, there is more I don’t know about classical music than I do know.
That’s probably true for just about everyone, I hope. Classical music is so vast that a seemingly great amount of knowledge doesn’t amount to much. I’m getting off track. We’ll revisit this.
When Dudamel was announced as the music director for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2007, I kind of wrote it off. He was 26 at the time and I thought it was a gamble by the philharmonic but one that made sense.
With Los Angeles’ rich Latin history and culture, hiring a Latin conductor seemed like a sensible move to enhance the presence of classical music in the community—but he was 26. I finally decided to give in and find out what Dudamel mania was all about.
I watched this Mahler performance with tears in my eyes from start to finish. Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar players forced me to leap off the couch and pound the floor with my fists. I had no choice. The only viable option open was to beat the hell out of the floor and shout, “Yes, yes, that’s it!”
There were other options but none viable.
The musicians themselves were beautiful. They were young, fresh, and had more hair than a truck load of 80's "Glam-Rock" bands.
The connection between the orchestra and Dudamel was one I’d never seen before in classical music—or any music for that matter.
It wasn’t respect.
It wasn’t admiration.
It was straight-up love. It appeared to be a deep and abiding love for what they were doing and for who they were.
Then I found out there was a story behind the love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZzFruQCofM&list=FLSs8QLxTmspcJJMgJig4wFw&index=2&feature=plpp_video