Concert Review: Dudamel’s Mahler Sixth

Jeremy Lee writes

For his Asian debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dudamel has chosen a rather striking programme for the first stop of his tour, Hong Kong:  Mahler’s 6th on March 19, and John Adams’ City Noir and Dvorak’s 9th on the 20th.  As a Mahler nut, I went to the first concert, and was greeted with a performance that was

The Dude’s Mahler 7 Cuts the Mustard

Jeremy Lee writes

Gustavo Dudamel’s Mahler recordings have been somewhat variable:  the 5th with the Simon Bolivar “Youth” Orchestra of Venezuela continues to astonish as one of the most exuberant 5ths ever made, the 1st with the Los Angeles Philharmonic was

The Dude’s Un-special Mahler Ninth

Jeremy Lee writes

This Mahler Ninth has exactly two parts worthy of attention:  the ending of the Rondo-Burleske, in which Dudamel very successfully notches up the tempo through Stretto right up to the final Presto which injects the orchestra with a burning dollop of adrenalin, and

Behold, behind a blaze of tasteless shooting stars, the modern BPO’s Strauss

Jeremy Lee writes

Who on earth approved of this packaging?  Who on earth dreamt of it? The cover looks fine, but when you open the album, you are greeted with a huge whiff of plastic and ink and a fluorescent (!) yellow disc, a color that resembles none other than urea.  Disgusted,