Gustavo “The Dude” Dudamel leads LA Phil in Heroic Work

Tonight at 7:00 on The Evening Concert it’s the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Music Director Gustavo Dudamel leading the group in Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony, the Heroic. Also on the program

Leif Ove Andsnes is the piano soloist in Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto.

Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times Music Critic wrote about the LA Phil and Dudamel;'s "Eroica': "...Dudamel's recent "Eroica" recording was made in Caracas with his Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in February just after he completed his massive Mahler Project with that orchestra and the L.A. Phil. No judicious three-year project for him, Dudamel instead immersed himself in all of Mahler for an intense month. You can hear the echo of that in his "Eroica," played with a huge orchestra and made hyper-expressive. This is not about the individual but about collective music making, Beethoven as a social conscience. The tempos are slow. The scope is grand."

Swed also wrote about the Beethoven piano Concerto collaboration between soloist leif Ove Andsnes and the group: "...His playing is exuberant. He doesn't physically interact with the orchestra the way some soloists do, but he listens to the players and enters into dialogue with them. Dudamel gave him the necessary elbow room. There were marvelous intimate moments, say when clarinetist Michele Zukovsky (the woodwinds thus far this season have been marvelous) picked up a little inflection from the pianist at the end of the slow movement. ......His fortes with the orchestra were real fortes. The last movement had guts, which almost seemed to throw the pianist slightly off and kept a listener on the edge of his seat.'

read the complete LA Times review here: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/05/entertainment/la-et-cm-la-phil-review-20121006