The Loose Filter Project

Is Dudamel really so good? Some comparative listening

With all the super duper hype and excitement surrounding the arrival of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's new Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, there have been both enthusiastic endorsements of his work and callous dismissals.

I thought it would be interesting to listen to a few snippets of the L.A. Phil's recent performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 under Dudamel, alongside matching clips from two other performances.  But to really make it interesting, I've picked what are widely considered two of the finest performances of this piece available: a classic live recording of the Bavarian Radio Symphony led by Rafael Kubelik (1979), and a late recording from Leonard Bernstein, leading the Royal Concertgebouw (1987). 

First, an excerpt from the first movement:

Kubelik, clip 1

Bernstein, clip 1

Dudamel, clip 1

Listening Guide: John Adams' Chamber Symphony, an eclectic delight

One of the great works of the late 20th century, the Chamber Symphony by John Adams is not yet well known, even among musicians. It can be a difficult work to wrap one's head around, given its highly original and eclectic nature, but is well worth the effort. In that spirit, here is a general overview with comments on each of three movements intended to deconstruct the piece a little bit, and to give those interested a few frames of reference for all that sound.