Marta Gardolińska (chorus conductor), Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Gustavo Dudamel
Deutsche Grammophon · 4839502 · 2 hours 4 minutes
Dudamel and the LA Phil make Ives feel like the most natural thing in the world, which is no small feat given how gloriously chaotic this music can get. The way they hold all those wildly competing threads together — marching bands colliding with hymns, dissonance crashing into nostalgia — is genuinely breathtaking to experience. Grammy-winning and critically adored for good reason, this one deserves a long Saturday afternoon and your full attention.
Awards:
- Presto Recordings of the Year — Finalist 2020
- Gramophone Magazine — Critics’ Choice 2020
- Grammy Awards — 63rd Awards (2021) — Winner – Best Orchestral Performance
- Grammy Awards — 63rd Awards (2021) — Nominee – Best Engineered Classical Album
“There are two chief reasons for Dudamel’s success as an Ives conductor with the LA Phil. One is their joint command of complex detail, conveyed in textures that seem to illuminate every thread…”
— BBC Music Magazine, December 2020,5 out of 5 stars(Performance) /4 out of 5 stars(Recording)
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Gustavo Dudamel
Nonesuch · 7559790616 · 91 minutes
Dudamel and the LA Phil bring Thomas Adès’s *The Exterminating Angel* composer’s own orchestral works to life with a kind of electric intensity that feels genuinely special. The Grammy win for Best Orchestral Performance in 2024 says it all — this is the kind of recording that reminds you why new music deserves your full attention. That thread of demonic Lisztian harmony woven through Adès’s sound world is utterly gripping, and having the Los Angeles Master Chorale in the mix adds a haunting, ceremonial weight that lingers long after the music ends.
Awards:
- Presto Recording of the Week — 21st April 2023
- BBC Music Magazine — June 2023 — Orchestral Choice
- Grammy Awards — 66th Awards (2024) — Winner – Best Orchestral Performance
- Grammy Awards — 66th Awards (2024) — Nominee – Contemporary Classical Composition
“Adès takes Liszt’s legacy of demonic harmony and develops it further away some of the orchestral layers to reveal recorded voices from the congregation at the Great Ades Synagogue in Jerusalem,…”
— BBC Music Magazine, June 2023,5 out of 5 stars(Performance) /4 out of 5 stars(Recording)
María Dueñas (soloist), Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Gustavo Dudamel
Platoon · LAPHIL02 · 82 minutes
Dudamel conducting Dudamel just makes sense, and this LA Phil release proves exactly why he’s one of the most exciting figures in classical music right now. María Dueñas lights up the soloist chair, and the combined forces of the orchestra and Master Chorale give the whole thing a genuinely epic sweep. It walked away with a Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance in 2025, and honestly, one listen tells you all you need to know about why.
Awards:
- Gramophone Magazine — August 2024 — Editor’s Choice
- BBC Music Magazine — September 2024 — Recording of the Month
- Grammy Awards — 67th Awards (2025) — Nominated – Best Engineered Classical Album
- Grammy Awards — 67th Awards (2025) — Winner – Best Orchestral Performance
“Complex, dazzling scores that are at once tautly constructed yet freewheeling in their imaginative reach…The album as a whole really is outstanding, bringing together a sense of vision and…”
— BBC Music Magazine, September 2024,5 out of 5 stars
Yuja Wang (piano), Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel
Deutsche Grammophon · 4864759 · 2 hours 27 minutes
Yuja Wang and Dudamel together feel like a natural pairing — two forces of nature who seem to feed off each other’s energy in the best possible way. The Rachmaninov First Concerto especially crackles with that electric tension between Wang’s jaw-dropping technical fireworks and a genuine emotional pull underneath it all. If you’ve ever wanted to hear what it sounds like when a pianist makes the impossible look effortless, this is your recording.
Awards:
- Gramophone Awards — 2024 Shortlist — Finalist – Concerto
“Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto opens in thundering style, before a glittering pianistic masterclass in high-speed touch from Wang, alternating between virtuosic shimmering and emotive depth….”
— BBC Music Magazine, November 2023,4 out of 5 stars
Berliner Philharmoniker, Rundfunkchor Berlin, John Adams, Alan Gilbert, Gustavo Dudamel, Kirill Petrenko, Sir Simon Rattle
Berliner Philharmoniker · BPHR170141 · 4 hours 57 minutes
Nearly five hours of John Adams with the Berlin Philharmonic is basically a gift, and Dudamel and company absolutely deliver the goods here. The full palette of the BPO — those gorgeous strings, the biting brass, the exquisite winds — makes *Harmonielehre* and *The Gospel According to the Other Mary* feel viscerally alive in a way that reminds you why Adams is such a giant. BBC Music Magazine gave it five stars, the Grammys came knocking, and honestly, it’s easy to hear why.
Awards:
- The New York Times — Recordings of the Year 2017
- Grammy Awards — 61st Awards (2019) — Nominee – Classical Compendium
“Both [Harmonielehre and The Gospel According to the Other Mary] benefit from the full palette of the Berlin Philharmonic, from powerful lower brass to exquisite wind solos and sensuous strings;…”
— BBC Music Magazine, March 2018,5 out of 5 stars
Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano), Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel
Decca · 4870877 · 75 minutes
Thibaudet brings this concerto to life with such a glittering touch that it’s hard not to be completely swept up in it. The partnership between him and Dudamel feels genuinely electric, and the LA Phil play with that sun-drenched warmth they do so well. A Presto finalist for good reason — this one belongs in your collection.
Awards:
- Presto Recordings of the Year — Finalist 2025
“it’s a glittering account of [the concerto], not only from the soloist, but also the orchestra, who could be a lit tle more forward in the balance, especially the strings in the tuttis. Thibaudet…”
— BBC Music Magazine, March 2025,5 out of 5 stars(Performance) /4 out of 5 stars(Recording)
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel
Deutsche Grammophon · 4779449 · 2 hours 59 minutes
Dudamel brings such raw, fearless energy to Nielsen’s symphonies that you immediately understand why these live Gothenburg performances caused such a stir when they dropped in 2011. Nielsen can be tricky to pull off — too cautious and the music goes flat, but Dudamel leans right into the danger zones and the results are genuinely thrilling. At nearly three hours, it’s a real commitment, but honestly, it flies by.
Awards:
- Presto Recording of the Week — 15th August 2011
“It’s Dudamel’s adherence to the ‘golden rule’ of Nielsen interpretation – to never play it safe – that helps him most…in music that’s so rarely recorded well, these are live performances to…”
— bbc.co.uk, 24th August 2011
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel
Deutsche Grammophon · 4837608 · 33 minutes
Dudamel conducting Dudamel with the LA Phil is exactly the kind of artistic alignment that produces something genuinely special, and *Sustain* is proof of that chemistry at its most intense. The piece pulls you in slowly, building these gorgeous swells of orchestral color before things start to unravel in the most dramatically satisfying way. A Grammy win and a *New York Times* recording of the year nod don’t hurt either — this one fully earns its accolades.
Awards:
- Grammy Awards — 62nd Awards (2019) — Winner – Best Orchestral Performance
- Grammy Awards — 62nd Awards (2019) — Nominee – Best Contemporary Classical Composition
- The New York Times — Recordings of the Year 2019
- Gramophone Magazine — February 2020 — Editor’s Choice
“There are hints of aching melody and some wondrous orchestral effects…As ‘Sustain’ swirls inexorably towards its ultimate destruction, it exerts a gravitational pull that has the dramatic…”
— Gramophone Magazine, February 2020
