Venezuelan music beyond the youth orchestras

Music from Venezuela is big news this week as the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venzuela hits the BBC Proms as part of their eight concert European tour. And later Gustavo Dudamel takes them on an autumn US tour, and then prepares to become music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Great news for classical music. But in the published programmes of the US and European tour by Dudamel and his Venezuelan youngsters there is not one work by Venezuelan composers, nor is there any music by living or female composers of any nationality, although their box office friendly BBC Prom does include music by the 20th century composers Silvestre Revueltas (1894-1940) from Mexico, Alberto Ginastera from Argentina (1916-1983), Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) and Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975).

Elsewhere on their European tour, and on their first two Deutsche Grammophon releases, Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra move even further back in history, with music from colonial Europe by Beethoven and Mahler. (Did I hear 'dead Europeans'?)

Here, for readers to extend and amend, are some suggestions for contemporary Venezuelan composers that Gustavo Dudamel might include in future tour programmes with his Venezuelan orchestra and Los Angeles orchestras. Although I have a feeling that Askonas Holt and Universal Music's Deutsche Grammophon may not be that keen.

Josefina Benedetti (b. 1953) - American born (New Haven, Conn.) Venezuelan composer, who studied piano both in Caracas and London. Extensive range of compositions including electronica, her compositions are frequently programmed in Venzuela and elsewhere. Founded her own record label Música y Tiempo.

Alvaro Cordero (b. 1954) - born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Has worked extensively in the US, and represented Venezuela at the International Rostrum Of Composers in Paris. His music has been performed by the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra. MP3 downloads available from website.

Alfonso Tenreiro (b. 1965) - born in Caracas. Studied in Venezuela and at Indiana University, Bloomington. Widely programmed in Venzuela and US, compositions include a symphony and guitar concerto. Numerous audio samples on composer's website.

Ricardo Lorenz Abreu (b. 1961) - composer and conductor now living in Chicago. His orchestral compositions have gained some acceptance in the US and elsewhere.

Sef Albertz (b. 1971) - best known for solo guitar music, including his suite Homenaje a Joan Miró. Also composes for orchestra, including a guitar concerto.

Federico Ruiz (b. 1948) - composes in genres including electronics. Has written successful opera Los Martirios de Colón (1981).

Beatriz Bilbao (b. 1951) - works with electronic mand acoustic forces. She has represented Venzuela at contemporary music conferences.

Follow this path for a directory of Venzuelan composers, and this one for listings of recordings. And this one for more on both Venezuela and 20th century Latin American composers.

Image (c) On An Overgrown Path. Venezuelan composers in my montage around Gustavo Dudamel are, from top left clockwise, Alfonso Tenreiro, Federico Ruiz, Alfonso Tenreiro, Frederico Ruiz and Josefina Benedetti. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Vienna Philharmonic in perpetual motion

Following the Cleveland Orchestra's problem plagued visit to the Proms, another über-orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, came for two concerts in the final week. On Wednesday Zubin Mehta (left) conducted them in Haydn, Berg and Stravinsky's Rite. On Thursday, after a quick baton change, Christoph Eschenbach led them in a leaden Bruckner 8. (On the basis of this performance, and Franz-Welser Most's similarly funereal Mahler 3 the previous week, the new generation of jet-setting maestros are avid readers of that book of the moment - In Praise of Slow). The two lacklustre Vienna Philharmonic concerts drew lukewarm reviews (and here, and here as well), which is not really surprising.

The orchestra played in no less than twenty-three concerts and operas during their August Salzburg Festival residency, with their last concert on the 28th of that month. On the Saturday before the Proms concerts (4th September) the same forces that played in London gave the Haydn, Berg and Stravinsky programme in the beautiful Großer Saal of the Musikverein in their native Vienna. They then travelled 1000 miles to the gorgeous new Sage Gateshead Hall in the north of England where they played the programme again on the Monday evening at the start of a three day back-to-back UK tour organised by their agents Askonas Holt (Mehta is one of their artists) .

On the Tuesday morning after the Gateshead concert the orchestra travelled more than 250 miles south to London for their Proms. They did a hall check in the afternoon, and played their first programme with Mehta in the evening. For the following day's concert they were joined by Eschenbach who had not conducted them in the previous month. (Star conductors in Salzburg had been Muti, Harnoncourt, Gergiev and Gatti).

Following the halting Bruckner 8 in London on Thursday, the orchestra travelled 500 miles on Friday to Lucerne in Switzerland, where they were joined by, yes - you've guessed it, Mehta and soprano Katarina Dalayman for exactly the same Haydn, Berg and Stravinsky programme on Saturday. (At least, in my day, touring orchestras varied their programmes, it prevented lacklustre performances) . The next day (Sunday) in Lucerne Eschenbach rejoins them to reprise Brucker 8. On Monday and Tuesday Daniel Gatti is back as conductor for two different Mahler programmes. Then after returning to Vienna, and a three day break, the orchestra return to the platform in their own hall, the Musikverien under Muti.

Memo to Askonas Holt and the Vienna Philharmonic management. If you are going to inflict that sort of schedule on your musicians at least equip them with some more appropriate encores. Johann Strass Jr. offers a wealth of possibilities. There is the fast polka Pleasure Train, plus the waltzes Morning Papers and Artist's Life.

And, of course, there is his Opus 257 - Perpetuum Mobile.

Visiting orchestras and the BBC will be delighted to hear this is my last 2005 Proms season story. For my views on the Last Night open this link. And if you enjoyed this post take an overgrown path to No such thing as an unknown Venezuelan conductor.