Beethoven - Symphony 7 [Dudamel-Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra Of Venezuela]Wow, how long has it been since Beethoven's Seventh has appeared in my highlights, in a way this is one of the 'forgotten' Symphonies of Beethoven for me, when i fell in love with Beethoven's Symphonies, it began with the Third, then the Fifth and the Sixth, then of course the Ninth, and then i discovered all the 'lesser' Symphonies, of which i've always boxed this Symphony into, but along with the Fourth, these are the next two Symphonies to shine, i haven't got that many versions of the Seventh, and so therefore i don't listen to it all that much, on this listen today, i feel that needs to change, it's certainly not a 'lesser' Symphony.
Gustavo Dudamel seems to be the new Simon Rattle, he's got the hair at least!, he was born in Venezuela in 1981, this recording is his debut on disc, recorded in 2006, i must make mention of the booklet cover [by Matthias Bothor], a nice portrait of Dudamel, in a nice pose.
It was the first movement that really got me, Beethoven gives some degree of prominence to the oboe, it plays the long opening intro tune [0:02-0:37], of which returns slightly later [1:25-1:48], the long opening ends in a transition before the full Vivace comes in, and it's the oboe joined by the flute that herald in this forte [3:59-4:25], with a nice skipping tune, towards the end it's the oboe again that has a nice reflection on the 'bouncy' music that has come just before it [8:32-8:54], so two words come to mind as i listened to this movement, 'bouncy' and 'oboe', it's very much a dance movement, and Beethoven shows that he's the master of everything.
Here's Carlos Kleiber conducting the first movement on YouTube, check Kleiber out at 4:23, he's fantastic!.
