LA Philharmonic/Dudamel review – an Olympian effort from

Barbican, London
With music by John Williams and Gabriela Ortiz, the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel delivered an energetic programme that pushed too hard in places

Visits to the UK by the leading American orchestras are more and more infrequent; as the European tours this year by the Chicago Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra painfully underline, London is no longer an automatic stop on their European itineraries. In that context it was quite a coup for the Barbican to have brought the Los Angeles Philharmonic to the capital for a two-night residency, with their music director Gustavo Dudamel. Their second concert will be a performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio, with members of the Deaf West Theatre acting out the drama, but the first was a more straightforward orchestral programme, with a distinctly transatlantic flavour.

It began and ended with music by John Williams – his Olympic Fanfare and Theme, which he composed for the 1984 Games, held in Los Angeles, and the March from his score for Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was added as an encore. By design or not, both showcased the LA Phil’s outstanding brass, which seems the best and certainly the most assertive section of the orchestra.