“Beer and beard”: Barenboim’s ruminative Brahms

By Mark Pullinger, 18 January 2016

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Reviewed at Royal Festival Hall, London on 17 January 2016

Brahms, Piano Concerto no. 1 in D minor, Op.15

Brahms, Piano Concerto no. 2 in B flat major, Op.83

Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela

Gustavo Dudamel, Conductor

Daniel Barenboim, Piano

Grooving with The Dude: the Bolívars make Bernstein and Falla dance

Mark Pullinger, 28th August

Between gigs at Wembley as Coldplay’s support act, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra brings its distinctive brand of infectious music-making to the Southbank.

****1

Simón Bolívar Orchestra and Dudamel celebrate El Sistema

Roy Westbrook, 16th January

An evening of audience roars begins as soon as Gustavo Dudamel first mounts the podium at the Barbican.

****1

An Edinburgh night to remember as Dudamel returns to the Simón Bolívar

David Smythe, 26th August

The Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel and cuatro player Jorge Glem set the Edinburgh International Festival alight with a mix of Venezuelan music and a terrific Mahler 1.

*****

Dudamel conquers Barcelona with Beethoven

Pep Gorgori, 13th March

In Barcelona, Gustavo Dudamel and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela continued their Beethoven cycle with performances of the Fifth and Sixth.

*****

Dudamel and the Bolívars: a “socks-on” kind of ensemble

Jacob Slattery, 7th October

Maestro Gustavo Dudamel and the musicians of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra are undoubtedly the most prominent ambassadors for Venezuelan orchestral music today, and they hit the stage on Friday for their second night at Carnegie Hall’s opening weekend.

***11

Cecilia Bartoli as Maria in Salzburg

Jonathan Sutherland, 13th May

A case of “seeing double” in Salzburg, as Cecilia Bartoli brings West Side Story to her Whitsun Festival.

***11

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

“Beer and beard”: Barenboim’s ruminative Brahms with the Bolívars