古斯塔沃·杜达梅尔:古典音乐界的下一位天才

When conductor Gustavo Dudamel 1)mounted the 2)podium in his debut with the New York 3)Philharmonic in November, 2007, he was carrying something special. Moments before he went onstage for the first of four concerts, the orchestra’s 4)archivist went to his dressing room to lend him a 5)baton used by Leonard

Bernstein注1. “I could not speak,” says Dudamel. And he was speechless again, near the end of his last

concert, when the baton suddenly snapped in two. But it wasn’t a bad 6)omen even without that 7)talisman, the comparisons to Bernstein (who broke plenty of

batons himself) were starting to stick.

Only 27, Dudamel is a hugely talented conductor whose 8)infectious delight in music echoes Bernstein’s

electric 9)appeal. But it’s more than his 10)charisma, says Deborah Borda, the president of the Los Angeles

Philharmonic, who signed Dudamel to become its

music director in 2009. As violinist Gil Shaham, the 11)soloist for the New York concerts, puts it, “With Gustavo, the 12)chops are all there. The technique, the 13)mastery he has it all.”

Since the Venezuelan wonder boy won an

international competition in Germany in 2004, he’s

created a 14)sensation in classical music. Simon Rattle of the Berlin Philharmonic called him “the most astonishingly

gifted conductor I’ve come across.”

The son of a 15)trombone player, Dudamel grew up with music. He recalls finding a yellowed book on 16)sight reading “it was a small book with a wonderful smell” in his father’s library when he was four or five, and he began to teach himself. Later he’d set up Lego注2

figures, put on a Tchaikovsky or Beethoven album and conduct the toys. His formal training began via

Venezuela’s music program known as “El Sistema注3”,

which puts instruments into the hands of 250,000 kids yearly, many from poor families. Dudamel played violin but started conducting around the age of 12. By 17 he was leading the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, the best in the program.

This past year he took the Bolívar Orchestra on tour, earning 17)rave reviews in London and New York. Check out clips from their concerts on YouTube and see how 18)energetic Dudamel is, with his bright gaze, 19)dimpled smile and dark curls flying as he conducts. His youth and 20)exuberance make him a great hope to pull in new audiences at the L.A. Phil and it doesn’t

hurt that he’s Latino in a city where more than 50% of the population speaks Spanish. “He’s a real messenger about music,” says Borda. “And people get that.” Just in time for his arrival, the philharmonic is launching its own youth orchestra, and Dudamel couldn’t be happier.

“It is so beautiful when you see the face of a kid who changed his or her life with a musical

instrument,” he says. Even the Lakers are jumping

on the Dudamel bandwagon. They’ve given him a 21)jersey 22)emblazoned with DUDAMEL and the number 24. 23)Short of seats next to Jack

Nicholson注4, it doesn’t get better than that.

2007年11月，指挥家古斯塔沃・杜达梅尔与纽约爱乐乐团合作，进行其首次演出。走上指挥台时，他拿着一样特别的东西。在他即将登台指挥四场音乐会的首场之前，乐团的档案管理员来到他的更衣间，借给他一支莱昂纳德・伯恩斯坦曾经使用过的指挥棒。“我激动得不能言语，”杜达梅尔说。在他最后一场音乐会临近结束时，他再一次惊呆了，因为指挥棒竟突然断成两半。但这并非恶兆――即使没有这件法宝，人们也已开始将他和伯恩斯坦（他也折断过不少指挥棒）相提并论。

年仅27岁的杜达梅尔是一位具有惊人天赋的指挥家。他对音乐的喜爱极富感染力，与伯恩斯坦电流般的吸引力如出一辙。但令其与众不同的并不仅仅是他那非凡的个人魅力，洛杉矶爱乐管弦乐团主席黛博拉・博尔达如是说。她与杜达梅尔签约，后者将在2009年担任洛杉矶爱乐管弦乐团的音乐总监。而在纽约那几场音乐会上担任独奏的小提琴家吉尔・沙哈姆则说：“和古斯塔沃在一起演出，技术得到全面发挥。指挥技巧和控制能力――这些他都具备了。”

自2004年这个委内瑞拉神童在德国一场国际比赛中胜出以来，他在古典音乐界引起了很大轰动。柏林爱乐乐团的西蒙・拉特尔称他为“我所遇见过的最令人惊叹的天才指挥家”。

杜达梅尔的父亲是一名长号手，所以他从小就在音乐的熏陶下长大。他回忆说自己四五岁时在父亲的书房里找到一本发黄的、关于随看随奏的书――“那是一本小书，有一股很好闻的味道。”于是他开始自学。后来他会摆弄乐高玩具人，一边放柴可夫斯基或贝多芬的唱片，一边指挥这些玩具人。杜达梅尔接受正式训练始于委内瑞拉的“El Sistema”音乐计划，每年有25万名儿童（大多来自贫困家庭）通过该计划接触和学习乐器。杜达梅尔学的是小提琴，但在大约12岁时开始指挥。到了17岁，他已经是“El Sistema”音乐计划里最好的乐团西蒙・玻利瓦尔青年管弦乐团的领军

人物。

在过去一年里（2007年），他带领

西蒙・玻利瓦尔青年管弦乐团进行巡回表演，在伦敦和纽约都获得高度评价。你可以到

YouTube网站上看看音乐会的片断，看看杜达梅尔是多么激情澎湃――他目光炯炯，笑时露出酒窝，深色的卷发随着指挥动作飞舞。杜达梅尔的年轻和充沛的活力有望为洛杉矶爱乐管弦乐团吸引更多新观众。而他的拉丁裔血统也不会成为问题，因为这个城市里超过一半人是说西班牙语的。“他是真正的音乐使者，”博尔达说，“人们能体会到（他的信息）。”杜达梅尔来到时，爱乐乐团正在创办自己的青年管弦乐团，这对他来说真是再开心不过的事情了。“当你看到一个因为乐器而改变一生的孩子的脸庞时，那种感觉真是太美妙了，”他说。（他是如此受欢迎，）甚至连洛杉矶湖人队也开始跟上这股“杜达梅尔”热潮。他们送给杜达梅尔一件印有他名字和号码“24”的运动衫。除了坐在杰克・尼科尔森旁边以外，没有比这更好的了。