Tchaikovsky: Shakespeare Overtures - Gustavo Dudamel

Gustavo Dudamel, the "energetic ambassador for classical music" (Vanity Fair), conducts symphonic pieces derived from Shakespeare as re-imagined in music by Tchaikovsky. In every case, Dudamel elicits the most appropriate interpretations imaginable from his electrifying Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra. He conclusively demonstrates that in addition to being able to generate excitement, he is a sophisticated musical thinker. In demand around the globe, Dudamel is currently Music Director of orchestras on three continents: Sweden's Gothenburg, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Venezuela's Simón Bolívar − and also in great demand as guest conductor for orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Chicago Symphony, La Scala Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Vienna Philharmonic, and others. "There's a spookily brooding Symphonic Fantasy based on The Tempest, while the company's youthful cast brings a suitably enthused spirit to the Fantasy Overture, based on Romeo and Juliet. But it's the Fantasy Overture based on Hamlet that most impresses here: the prince's tortured soul clearly offers fertile parallels with Tchaik-ovsky's own troubled temperament." The Independent, 4th March 2011 **** "mature, vividly coloured performances...Much of the playing generates the virile exuberance for which the orchestra is famous. Dudamel harnesses this energy productively and to well-defined dramatic ends, tempering it with warm sensibility and commendable lack of indulgence in Tchaikovsky's more sentimental moments." The Telegraph, 6th March 2011 **** "Performances are fervent and in every sense dynamic, requiring some adjustment of the volume switch to cope with extremes of pianissimo and fortissimo...Strings are full-blooded and lively in attack. Brass is fiery and manages to stay radiant rather than raucous." The Observer, 6th March 2011 " Dudamel's handling of this material is refreshingly mature. The composer's succulent melodies are never oversentimentalised or phrased in distractingly fancy ways: you hear no conductor's ego strutting. Nor is the drama so heated in temperature that the music becomes screamingly neurotic...Intelligence, that's what leaps out from this disc" The Times, 11th March 2011 ****