Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela/Gustavo Dudamel Deutsche Grammophon 477 8775 ***

Stravinsky's barbaric Rite of Spring, iconic of the musical upheavals of the early 20th century, is played here by one of the iconic performing partnerships of the early 21st century, the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, jewel in the crown of Venezuela's "social action for music", El Sistema, and its charismatic conductor, Gustavo Dudamel. The Venezuelans' Stravinsky is idiosyncratic, wildly exciting in a ho-holds-barred way at times, extraordinarily indifferent at others. The extremely wide-ranging recording will delight thrill-seekers, and this disc will no doubt introduce a new listenership to the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940), whose colourful, posthumously-compiled suite, La noche de los mayas, has a horde of improvising percussionists in its finale.

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