Review Roundup: Gustavo Dudamel Conducts Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, returned to Carnegie Hall for concerts on three consecutive days in February in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. On the first program, on Friday, February 23 at 8:00 p.m. the orchestra offered an all-Brahms program including Academic Festival Overture, Variations on a Theme by Haydn, and Symphony No. 1.

The following evening, on Saturday, February 24 at 8:00 p.m., Maestro Dudamel lead the VPO in Mahler's Adagio from Symphony No. 10 and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique.

The Vienna Philharmonic concluded its Carnegie Hall residency on Sunday, February 25 at 2:00 p.m. with Mr. Dudamel conducting Ives's Symphony No. 2 and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4. A pre-concert talk starts at 1:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage with Jan Swafford, author and composer.

These concerts mark the first stop on the tour for Maestro Dudamel and the VPO across the Americas in February and March. "The Americas are a united essence," offered Gustavo Dudamel. "The culture of the Americas - north, south, central - is inspired by the landscape, the people, the folklore of these amazing countries. That's a beautiful connection, and I believe that the culture of these places breaks borders. Boundaries don't exist, divisions don't exist...an entire continent, as one, exists. America as one: that's what this tour symbolizes."

Let's see what the critics have to say!

James R. Oestreich, The New York Times: It was surely too much to hope that Mr. Dudamel, the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, would lead the players, twirling their instruments, in a raucous account of "Mambo" from "West Side Story," as he has often done as an encore with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. But sure enough in the concert on Friday, which opened an Americas Tour with the Philharmonic, there was a Bernstein trifle to start off a rich slate of encores: the Waltz from his Divertimento for Orchestra. (The other encores were by Josef Strauss on Friday and Saturday, and Tchaikovsky on Sunday.)

Eric C. Simpson, NY Classical Review: A betting man would have guessed that Dudamel would do better with the more bombastic Symphonie fantastique of Berlioz; he'd be wrong. Though there was more excitement here than there had been in the Mahler, this was an alarmingly sloppy performance for such an esteemed orchestra and experienced conductor. In the "Reveries and Passions," it sounded almost as though the strings hadn't practiced their parts, stumbling over the rapid passagework.

Harry Rolnick, Concertonet: His control over the Vienna Phil was total. Yes, orchestra had its technical faults (a few blurts and bleeps from the brass in the Tchaikovsky wouldn't have been tolerated with the NY Phil.) But the Vienna Phil strings are unparalleled, and Ives relished those sounds. These were not the sounds of the village band, but those of a great orchestra. And methinks even Ives might have appreciated their greatness.

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