Gustavo Dudamel conducts Mahler's Fifth
The young Argentinian conductor (he's turning 28 in two weeks) drew a committed performance from the orchestral players last night. The performance was impassioned yet cogent. The opening funeral-march movement was massive and moving. The slow movement, the famous Adagietto, shimmered with tenderness. A massive, multi-layered work, the symphony has five movements organized in three parts: Part 1: Funeral March: With measured step. Strict. Like a Cortege xxxxxx Stormily. With greatest vehemence Part 2: Scherzo. Vigorously, not too fast. Part 3: Adagietto. Very slow xxxxxx Rondo-Finale. Allegro giocoso. Lively Though fiendishly complex, it seemed last night all of a piece from beginning to end, its unity that of a scale of emotions. Before the Mahler, Pinchas Zukerman played Violin Concerto, Op. 30, written by Oliver Knussen (b. 1952) for him.