Musikfest 3: Intriguing contrasts

Gustavo Dudamel is certainly no stranger to the podium of the Philharmonie, where he is a frequent guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. At this year’s Musikfest, however, he appeared alongside the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, the Venezuelan orchestra with whom he rose to international prominence, and for whom he still serves as music director. In keeping with the loosely percussive focus of the festival, the programme featured two works from the first half of the twentieth century, both with unconventional or enlarged percussion sections; the curious juxtaposition of Villa-Lobos’ loosely neo-classical Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2 and Messiaen’s epic, forward-thinking Turangalîla-symphonie made for a programme of intriguing contrasts.

The second of Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras – inspired by the dance suites of Bach and…