I was there when he conducted this piece. He managed to "conduct" more than 20 seconds of utter silence at the end. You could hear a pin drop. I swear the audience stopped breathing. Such power from such a gentle piece, what a conductor!
That is quite his trademark to the point of even stopping premature applause the few stupid times it occurs as I witnessed during the LA Phil Tchaikovsky Fest. This version allows for the purest expression true to Elgar's intentions.
Someone has always got to be "I was the first to applaud" even as the last note dies away. My Choral conductor does this - holds us all for a few seconds after the end before releasing us.
The most "English" piece conducted by a Venezuelan conductor, played by a symphony orchestra named after the liberator of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panamá, Perú and Bolivia. It's fascinating.
Quanta sensibilità ,,,,,Non ho mai ascoltato questo brano che amo moltissimo con questa intensità interpretativa ,,,, Grande Dudamel e grande la Simon Bolivar!
Extraordinary grasp of Elgar by a Bolivian Orchestra and their 'in tune' conductor. This moving performance can only be compared to the brilliant Stokowski. The overrated British conductor Sir Simon Rattle has never got close to this standard...
save the best till last, englands green and pleasant land lol, the little island that as gave more to the world than any other nation on the face of the globe
This is very poorly played. The pace is too fast. there are no voices that should sound, clarinet, bass solo. The last fermata is not sustained. But it keeps an unnecessary pause, it just waits. There is no dissolution in silence.
I've now recognized the Royal Festival Hall, London, at the start, so a bit of googling reveals this to have been filmed during a visit to England by Dudamel and his Venezuelan orchestra in June 2012.
