“David Patrick Stearns’ Classical Selections

By David Patrick Stearns

Inquirer Classical Music Critic

Best-of-the-year lists in classical music have a built-in fallacy: Nobody can take in all the local concerts, important recordings or DVDs that arrived in the last 12 months. Anyone who tries would probably end up so burned out that, come December, prioritization might be impossible. So let’s be honest: This year’s encapsulation is about what came my way this year. And it’s been an excellent year, particularly for new music. I hope it’s not the fool’s paradise that preceded the economic decline of the arts.

1. The Gustavo Dudamel phenomenon: This 27-year-old conductor’s global emergence from a Venezuela youth orchestra has been in full swing, but Philadelphia had a firsthand glimpse only last month in a tour stop with the Israel Philharmonic. My conclusion: He’s not a miracle man – few unseasoned conductors can pull off the final movement of Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, and he was no exception – but so much else that he does exhibits great instincts, plus a sense of excitement and fun”. Fuente original