Deutsche Grammophon 479 0250 ***

With its players' average age now in the mid-20s, the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela has dropped the word Youth from its name. The buzz surrounding the orchestra and its conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, remains, and might well lead you to expect Beethoven playing of a Toscanini-like intensity. What's actually on offer here is of an altogether softer and more pliable character. It's almost as if Dudamel and his players were concerned to show that they can deliver much more than high-voltage excitement. The first two movements of the Eroica are anything but electric – the music-making engages more through a concentration on a kind of friendly interplay – although the Scherzo and Finale are more highly-charged, The same range of approach is found in the Prometheus and Egmont Overtures. url.ie/57as