Gustavo Dudamel /Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela MAHLER Symphony No. 7

The Seventh Symphony falls into Mahler’s second compositional phase and is the last of the three, purely instrumental, symphonies he wrote during those years (from which the Rückert-Lieder and Kindertotenlieder also date). Unlike his first four works in the genre (influenced by the Wunderhorn cycle), the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Symphonies are not programmatic, nor do they draw on folk music or fairy tales, recycle material from his earlier Lieder or involve solo or choral voices – they take us instead into the realm of “pure music”. The two symphonies that frame No. 7 represent two extremes in terms of content: the Sixth is the darkest and most pessimistic of all Mahler’s works, the Eighth a kind of 20th-century “Ode to Joy”. The Seventh, meanwhile, might be said to combine these two extremes within itself, travelling as it does from the darkness of night into the bright light of day (an effect underlined by his use of progressive tonality, from a sombre B minor to a radiant C major).

As with his previous symphonies, Mahler composed No. 7 over the course of two summers – the only time he had free to devote to composition – in this case those of 1904 and 1905. During the first, at his summer home near Maiernigg, on the Wörthersee, in a strikingly feverish burst of creativity, he not only completed the Kindertotenlieder and wrote the entire Finale of the Sixth Symphony (one of the longest, most complex and most intense movements he ever produced), but he also managed to go straight on (most unusually for him, given that he had never worked on two different symphonies so closely together) to compose two pieces entitled Nachtmusik (Night Music) which were to be used as movements (2 and 4) of a new symphony, the Seventh. The other movements were written one after another the following year, although only after Mahler had overcome one of the creative blocks he often suffered at the start of the summer. (Gastón Fournier-Facio)

GUSTAVO DUDAMEL The Liberator (Original Soundtrack)

World renowned conductor Gustavo Dudamel’s first-ever original musical composition for the screen, The Liberator – Libertador brings immediacy and passion to the life story of one of history’s great men. The timeless story of a people’s struggle for independence is brought to sumptuous life in The Liberator. Dudamel, who consulted with film score master John Williams in the preparations for writing the music, describes his score as “atmospheric, post-Mahlerian music, full of tension, hope and struggle.”

The Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and guests from the world of Venezuelan folk music lend the score a distinctive Latin American flavor.  On July 31st. The Suite from Libertador will have its world premiere at the Hollywood Bowl, under the baton of Dudamel himself with the LA Philharmonic.

Directed by Alberto Arvelo, The Liberator – Libertador is billed as one of the largest independent film productions ever to come out of South America, and stars Édgar Ramírez (Carlos, Zero Dark Thirty). Ramírez plays iconic South American hero, Simón Bolívar. Bolívar fought over one hundred battles against the Spanish Empire in South America and rode over seventy thousand miles on horseback. His military campaigns covered twice the territory of Alexander the Great. His army never conquered – it liberated.

“Gustavo originally arrived to this project as musical advisor. Sometime later, he said he had come up with a melody that could work for the start of the film. He went to the piano and began playing the melody. When he finished playing, I think both of us realized that he had begun composing our soundtrack,” commented Arvelo, explaining the evolution of the score.

Early press buzz is building for the film.  Variety said it’s “Impressively scaled” and “makes history seem alive!”  The Hollywood Reporter called it “epic and absorbing.” (07/23/2014)