SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Shostakovich, Bernstein and Latin American composers : Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel, conductor,  Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 4.11.2007 (HS)

As conductor Gustavo Dudamel prepares to replace Esa-Pekka Salonen in 2009 as conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, much fuss has been made about his Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra from his native Venezuela. He has conducted this group of 200 musicians, ages 12 to 26, for nine seasons, raising it to the point where it has made popular recordings of such major classical works as Mahler's Symphony No. 5 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.

Dudamel brought the orchestra to San Francisco for the first time Sunday. They labored dutifully and honorably through Shostakovich's massive Symphony No. 10 and then, after intermission, Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. They finally showed their true colors (literally, donning jackets in the yellow, blue and white of the Venezuelan flag for encores) when they concluded the 2 hour 40 minute concert in exuberant style with a series of colorful works from Latin America.

Before this youthful ensemble, Dudamel the conductor displays endless reserves of energy. He transmits the touch and dynamics he wants with fluid body language. He obviously had the musicians thoroughly prepared. No technical demands seem too much for them. His enthusiasm is unmistakable, and his modesty admirable. He takes his bows from stage level, with the orchestra, not standing on the podium in front of them.

That said, his interpretation and the orchestra's performance of the Shostakovich symphony shed no new light on this work. If Dudamel harbors any ideas that elements of this symphony were meant to mock Stalin (who died shortly before its debut), he did not underline them. He simply presented the music, with no suggestion that Shostakovich meant anything  deeper and more menacing than its surface value.

The long opening movement moved from moment to moment without much portent. The nasty scherzo sounded more like the background to a horror film than any sort of snarling sarcasm. The best moments were actually the quietest. The hushed, almost pointillist reference to the composer's signature "DSCH" tune at the end of the third movement had a haunting quality. They played the revved-up finale straight, with a slam-bang ending.

The technical mastery of these musicians was evident in Shostakovich's vivid orchestration, tossing the spotlight around from soloist to soloist and section to section. The principal horn player could join any major orchestra today. His solos were not only note-perfect but had impressive shape. I also liked the principal clarinetist and timpanist.

The overall sound delivered tremendous heft, in part because all the wind parts were doubled. Among 150 musicians on stage, a brass line of eight horns, six trumpets, six trombones and two tubas, combined with five flutes, five oboes, four clarinets and five bassoons, virtually embedded a concert band into an orchestra. One can understand the desire to get as many of the young musicians involved as possible, and in a piece like the Shostakovich 10th the extra mass helps deliver a weightier effect. In a piece like Bernstein's suite, however. it's like trying to get an elephant to dance.

Something was missing, however. It struck me in the Shostakovich symphony that the orchestra sounded correct but lacked that sense of improvisation, the freshness that can lift the music to another plane. It was plainer in the Bernstein. Someone needed to tell these kids they were playing theater music. They approached the piece with far too much reverence. That made the slow moments glow, including "Somewhere," "Meeting Scene" and the exquisite finale. But it robbed the fast dances of their spontaneity and verve, especially when Dudamel adopted breakneck tempos for "Mambo," "Cha Cha" and "Cool Fugue." Listen to Bernstein's own recordings of this music. It needs space to swing. The combination of speed and weight from the doubled winds simply flattened the music in this performance.

Later, they brought back "Mambo" as an encore. Loosened up by several consecutive rhythmic Latin American pieces, they let fly, caught the wildness of the music, and delivered a much more idiomatic and exciting performance of the same piece.

The first of the Latin American piece was Danzon No. 2 by Arturo Marquéz, the Mexican composer's calling card. Already a listener could feel the tightness of concentration relaxing as the musicians returned to more familiar territory. They finally broke all the chains for a rip-snorting rendition of the Estancia Suite by the Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera. Among the highlights: some spectacular timpani work in the hard-charging third movement, "Los peones de hacienda," and the driving rhythms of the danza finale, "Malambo."

The final work on the program, "Alma Llanera," by the Venezuelan composer Pedro Gutiérrez, brought a strong reaction from the many Venezuelans in the capacity audience. The piece, a sort of Latin waltz, is a second national anthem for Venezuelans in the way "Va pensiero" is for Italians.

For encores, the band donned its colorful jackets to play the Mambo from West Side Story and another, even more raucous and joyful, run-through of Ginastera's Malambo from Estancia. Too bad it was over. The kids were just hitting their stride.

Harvey Steiman

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