Moving blur

23 June concert (available until 30 June)
26 June concert (available until 4 July)

I promise never to post such a blurred picture again - I took some much sharper pictures of movement in low light with no flash but this one summed up my extraordinary time with the Simón Bolívar Orchestra today.

As I waited in the Royal Festival Hall for the rehearsal to begin, a woman two seats down from me said to the 17ish-year-old next to me, 'Well if you're going to say things like that I'm not sitting next to you.' A seat-swap-fest enabled father to separate son and indignant mother. I listened keenly for the explanation. Son told dad he'd said that his mother was wrong to think that the orchestra was the best in the world, and that just because they started disadvantaged didn't make them better musicians than others. He expected them to have talent and technique, but he thought the hype was a marketing gimmick. Sounded a pretty reasonable case to me.

Then the rehearsal started. I am no judge of musical talent or technique but the music was magical - Esteban Benzecry's Rituales Amerindios, a fabulous evocation of Latin American birds, insects, wind, rain and flowing water. The huge orchestra (14 double basses and the rest to match!) played magnificently and Gustavo Dudamel, conducting, fizzed. They threw the music around, caught it, laughed, threw it back... I have never seen an orchestra have such fun and occasionally Dudamel stopped conducting for a moment or two and let the orchestra just play.

After the first movement Dudamel told everyone that Benzecry was in the hall. The orchestra stood, cheered, clapped.

The rest of the piece was played with the same energy, generosity and wild sense of fun. At the end the audience erupted, the musicians laughed some more and once Dudamel had given everyone else credit, he asked Benzecry to come on stage. Benzecry demurred and this is Dudamel getting his way.

After the concert he crouched on the edge of the stage, talking with audience members, signing tickets, having his photo taken with people and checking the pictures were OK before letting them go. Everyone within metres shared his smile. His minder tried to get him to leave for an interview but for a good 15 minutes he just stayed with his audience.

So probably they are not the best musicians in the world but I don't think I have ever seen a better leader of anything.