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Valery Gergiev continues his Shostakovich symphony cycle with an emotionally-charged performance of the Seventh Symphony. Shostakovich dedicated his Symphony No 7 to the defiance shown by the citizens of Leningrad in the face of Nazi totalitarianism. Despite the widespread reassessment that has since taken place regarding the inspirations for his symphonies, the ‘Leningrad’ symphony remains a highly-potent symbol for the residents of modern-day St Petersburg. Previous releases in Gergiev’s Shostakovich cycle have included Symphonies Nos 1 & 15, 2 & 11 and 3 & 10. Between them they have received two Grammy Award nominations, as well as Chocs from Classica (France) and Editor’s Choices from Gramophone. Gergiev will conduct Shostakovich symphonies with the Rotterdam Philharmonic in December, and complete the Brahms & Szymanowsky cycles with the LSO in London. In January the Mariinsky orchestra will perform a number of Shostakovich symphonies with Gergiev in France and in February they return to Russia for performances of Shchedrin’s 'Dead Souls' and Strauss’ 'Elektra'. “Gergiev and his heroic St Petersburg orchestra show that the Adagio – touched by a sense of intimacy, passion and tragedy – is the real kernel of the symphony. This live recording has occasional imperfections of ensemble, always a hazard with Gergiev, but what counts is the big picture, captured here with intensity, heart and soul.” Financial Times, 29th December 2012 **** “such is the poignancy and sensitivity with which Gergiev shapes the world-weary melodies that I was immediately won over...[in the Finale] Gergiev exerts a much tauter control over proceedings, the inexorable tread of the sarabande rhythm achieving mesmeric cumulative power which is helped in no small measure by the superbly responsive orchestral playing and the tremendous dynamic range of the recording.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2013 **** | 
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| |  | Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos. 1-3
Tchaikovsky’s early trio of symphonies have long lived in the shadow of the three that followed. Following his acclaimed Mariinsky DVD of the final three symphonies, which received Choc de l’annee in France, Valery Gergiev conducts outstanding performances of the earlier works with the LSO. Tchaikovsky’s early symphonies are full of the rich expressive melodies, for which he had a natural talent, with influences of Russian nationalism and folk tunes, particularly in the ‘Little Russian’, No. 2. The choreographer George Balanchine exploited the dance-like nature of the Third Symphony by using it as the basis for the final part of his ballet masterpiece, 'Jewels'. Throughout the Autumn Valery Gergiev will conduct the complete Brahms and Szymanowski cycles with the LSO in London, Edinburgh, Paris and Luxembourg. They also tour to the USA and Germany. Gergiev’s recent recordings on LSO Live include an acclaimed recording of Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances and Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements. His award-winning Mahler cycle will be released as a 10-SACD box set in October. “Gergiev can transform works that often seem problematic into something compelling and totally coherent. In this set, he does exactly that with the Third...which he not only reveals as a totally convincing reworking of traditional symphonic form...but links it dramatically with Tchaikovsky's operas... both [the First & Second] are full of wonderful touches, of sharply etched detail, vivid colours and tremendous focused energy.” The Guardian, 6th September 2012 ***** “what lovely and characteristic things are to be found in them, how full of Tchaikovskian panache, melodic richness and rhythmic vitality they are, and how brightly they shine in these vivid performances” Sunday Times, 16th September 2012 “This budget-price, immaculately recorded double album is a revelation; Valery Gergiev’s pin-sharp attention to detail and rhythmic zest making each work seem much bigger and bolder than usual, far more than sequences of balletic interludes...Essential listening.” The Arts Desk, 30th September 2012 “Gergiev’s handling of dynamic is expert…the orchestra is at its best here” International Record Review, November 2012 “Gergiev's frequent use of striking contrasts of tempos between themes, or even dramatic pauses, as in the slow movement, often makes Tchaikovsky's First sound like a close relation to a Bruckner symphony. Yet, such is the affection with which Gergiev shapes this work that it never descends to bathos.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2013 ***** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
Chopin: | Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60 | Liszt: | Erlkönig, S558 No. 4 (after Schubert D328) Fruhlingsglaube, S557c Die Forelle, S564 Auf dem Wasser zu singen, S558 No. 2 (from Schubert D774) Die Stadt - Mässig Geschwindt (No. 1 from Schwanengesang, S560, after Schubert) Widmung S566 after Schumann (Liebeslied) | Tchaikovsky: | Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23 Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev Un poco di Chopin, Op. 72, No. 15 |
Daniil Trifonov, winner of the XIVth International Tchaikovsky Competition, is probably the world’s most exciting young pianist. On his first Mariinsky recording he joins Valery Gergiev for a scintillating performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1. Daniil also presents a selection of recital repertoire including music by Tchaikovsky, Chopin and Liszt transcriptions of Schubert and Schumann. Written for Nikolai Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto is one of his most popular works. Revised three times, including an arrangement for two pianos, the concerto was finally set in stone in 1888 and it is this version that is most frequently performed today. Tchaikovsky balances core motivic elements with a sense of lyrical spontaneity to create a technically challenging but instantly appealing work. At only 21 years old, Daniil Trifonov has won countless awards, including the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (Gold Medal). Valery Gergiev personally awarded Trifonov the ‘Grand Prix’ in Moscow, an additional award given to the best overall competitor in any category of the International Tchaikovsky Competition. In 2011, Trifonov gave his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra and has since performed with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Mariinsky Orchestra, as well as touring throughout the USA, Europe and the Far East. In the coming season he will make debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony and Chicago Symphony orchestras, as well as performing recitals at Salle Pleyel, Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall and Wigmore Hall. “Trifonov's combination of delicacy and fire leaves an indelible impression in this debut recording with the Mariinsky. The Tchaikovsky, scorching and heart-rending but never bombastic, is paired with solo Liszt transcriptions” The Observer, 12th August 2012 “Trifonov has won every top piano competition, and this shows why. His performance of the Tchaikovsky warhorse...is nuanced but not mannered, virtuosic without being showy, and powerful yet not hammered, as many young Russian pianists do...He has the world at his feet.” The Times, 11th August 2012 **** “Last year’s winner [International Tchaikovsky Competition] 21-year old Daniil Trifonov is truly exceptional. Trifonov … the orchestral support is first-rate … Even more impressive are the solo works included here which display all the variety of Trifonov’s tonal range … Seemingly there is nothing that Trifonov cannot do. Trifonov may be at the start of his career but he is already a mature artist. His youth brings an overwhelming energy which seems to blow the cobwebs off everything he performs: he forces one to listen to these works anew, the sure sign of greatness.” International Record Review, October 2012 “His special blend of attributes is on display here, not least his technical ease, exquisite control and rich resource of colour. In the Tchaikovsky [Concerto], Trifonov's playing ignites when it has to, but is generally notable for its dynamic phrasing and variety of articulation. For such an overworked piece it sounds remarkably fresh.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2012 **** “[Trifonov] makes the instrument sing and allows the music to breathe … The six Liszt song transcriptions show him at his best, triumphantly capturing all the despair of ‘Erlkonig’ … A pianist, then, with a great international career in front of him (no doubt about that).” Gramophone Magazine, November 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Valery Gergiev conducts Strauss’ 'Elektra', one of the most powerful operas in the repertoire, accompanied by a superlative cast. Premiered in 1910 at Covent Garden, under the baton of Sir Thomas Beecham, 'Elektra' showcases many, of what were at the time, modernist techniques such as dissonance, chromaticism and fluid tonality but also some of his finest writing. The one-act Greek tragedy was reconstructed by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, and his adapted text forms the libretto for the opera. The drama centres around Elektra and her determination to avenge her father’s death. The themes of death, violence, sexual repression and revenge are omnipresent. American soprano Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet is recognised as a leading force in German and contemporary music repertoire and a great singing actress. Angela Denoke and Dame Felicity Palmer both possess outstanding pedigrees in Strauss' opera. They are joined by outstanding Lieder specialist Matthias Goerne, making one of his rare forays into operatic repertoire. “This exciting reading is worth a try, if not a classic” Sunday Times, 1st July 2012 “one feels a distinct frisson with the arrival of Klytaemnestra...Caricature is totally eschewed; however tortured Klytaemnestra may be, Palmer maintains an innate regality in her vocal presence...[Goerne's] text is penetratingly delivered...Storey offers a heroic voice as Aegisthus, for a change, with all the notes truly sounded...One can tell that the LSO rejoices in playing this music...Any Elektra enthusiast will want to hear Goerne and the magnificent Palmer.” International Record Review, July/August 2012 “if vocal discipline is not Charbonnet’s strong suit that may be a virtue in this role...It is difficult to find any faults in Felicity Palmer’s classic Klytämnestra...she is always scrupulously musical and no thoughts of caricature invade one’s attention...[Storey creates] an individual sound for the character of Ägisthus..[Goerne] falls not far short of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in establishing a dark, mysterious presence at his entry” classicalsource.com, July 2012 “Gergiev grasps the Wagnerian intensity of the score, also capturing the Straussian extremist tendencies with thrilling impact. Thrusting playing by the LSO helps.” The Scotsman, 9th July 2012 ***** “Gothic glory lies in the London Symphony Orchestra’s playing: visceral in impact, full of details usually lost in an opera house pit...Charbonnet doesn’t have enough heft at the top for the increasingly unhinged Elektra: the compensation comes in her commitment and passion.” The Times, 20th July 2012 *** “[Gergiev] conveys passions and tensions with compelling, sometimes deafening power...[Charbonnet is] strongly involved without, thankfully, overplaying the weirdness...[Palmer's Klytaemnestra is] the real star of this show, slicing through Gergiev's sound-wall with incisive diction and keen characterisation: she's neurotic, malevolent but far from the conventional Germanic witch. Ian Storey makes Aegisth's few lines at once fatuous and menacing.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 *** “Gergiev has the LSO sailing through metre- and key-changes with almost effortless fluidity, and Strauss's dramaturgical acumen has never seemed clearer...Charbonnet generates plenty of manic excitement with her ultra-aggressive vibrato but...there are many signs of considerable theatrical intelligence; at times her conviction triumphs over her own voice...Goerne is the one vocal marvel here: his Orestes has nobility and morality” Gramophone Magazine, October 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances
Following his acclaimed LSO Live recording of Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 2, a Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Valery Gergiev conducts a thrilling performance of the composer’s 'Symphonic Dances', coupled with fellow emigré Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements. An orchestral suite in three sections, the 'Symphonic Dances' were the last works Rachmaninov completed and proved to be some of his most popular. Although rarely sentimental, they draw on folk idioms and the composer’s reminiscences of Russia, from where he emigrated in 1917. Stravinsky’s 'Symphony in Three Movements' was written between 1942-45 and was the first work Stravinsky completed after his arrival in the USA. Although he claimed it was a ‘War Symphony’, his true inspiration was typically vague. Following an extensive tour of the Far East with the LSO in February and March, Valery Gergiev conducts concerts throughout Europe in with the Mariinsky Orchestra, including performances in the UK. “Gergiev’s reading is a satisfying one and the LSO are on superlative form… Punchy, powerful stuff, in close-up, vivid sound.” The Arts Desk, 5th May 2012 “[Gergiev] elicits a fair amount of instrumental detail from Rachmaninov's luminous scoring [in the Symphonic Dances] but it is at the cost of cohesive overall structure...[the Symphony in Three Movements] is a big-boned performance, its syncopations crisply articulated by the LSO, its powerful rhythmic impetus kept on a tight rein, its palette of timbres well delineated.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2012 “these are thoughtful, well-considered performances, excellently played and recorded...Gergiev's rather deliberate tempo in the first movement of the Rachmaninov seems to stress the 'symphonic', rather than the 'dance' aspect of this work...Much the same might be said of the Stravinsky: overall the emotional temperature seems a bit low, despite some highly exciting passages and refined solo playing in the more lyrical moments.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 *** “Gergiev gives us a bold, exciting account of Stravinsky's wartime cracker: wild and rough at the edges in the outer movements; unsentimental, even brusque in the 'soft centre'.” Classical Music, 7th April 2012 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto is one of the most sought-after interpreters of French, Italian and Russian repertoire. Here he joins Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky orchestra for a sumptuous recording of Massenet’s final great opera. Gergiev is no stranger to conducting Massenet, having recorded an outstanding performance of 'Hérodiade' in 1995 with Renée Fleming and Placido Domingo. 'Don Quichotte', Massenet’s comédie-héroïque, is a tale of heroism, adventure and unrequited love. The plot relates only indirectly to the great novel by Miguel de Cervantes and more likely refers to the play Le chevalier de la longue figure, by the poet Jacques Le Lorrain. Massenet, nearing the end of his career, probably identified with the character of Don Quichotte, and fell in love with the mezzo-soprano Lucy Arbell, who played Dulcinée in the first performance of the work. Praised for his vast range, thundering vocal power, and exceptional acting ability, Ferruccio Furlanetto has performed at the world’s leading opera houses, including La Scala, the Royal Opera House, the New York Metropolitan Opera and the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. His 2011-12 season is dominated by performances of 'Boris Godunov' with the Chicago Lyric Opera, Vienna Staatsoper and the Teatro Massimo (Palermo). Furlanetto will also sing Méphistophélès in Gounod’s 'Faust', Don Basilio in 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia' and Silva in 'Ernani' at the Met. Mezzo-soprano Anna Kiknadze is a principal soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg. Highlights of her early career include being a finalist at the 2001 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, 2002 Placido Domingo Operalia Competition in Paris and the International Rimsky-Korsakov Competition in St. Petersburg. “[Furlanetto] is moving in Quichotte’s prayer and death scene. Gergiev surprises with his sensitive handling of Massenet’s delicately perfumed idiom, relishing the atmosphere of his Spanish pastiche.” Sunday Times, 26th February 2012 “[Furlanetto] is quite astonishingly moving in it, as is Andrei Serov as Sancho Pança. The rest of it is more equivocal. Gergiev is at his best when the music is most tender, but goes hell-for-leather at the fiesta scenes, which work better when less pressured.” The Guardian, 8th March 2012 **** “Furlanetto's basso cantante makes a fine compromise [between Ghiaurov and van Dam] - rich but smooth in fluent French - and Valery Gergiev whips up the score more vigorously than either predecessor...Gergiev has excellent surround sound, and this new version comes recommended” BBC Music Magazine, April 2012 **** “[Furlanetto's] dark round tone is perfect for the role. He can't resist uttering his trademark sob now and then but much can be forgiven for his beautiful legato...Furlanetto's combination of sadness and dignity is most affecting...Anna Kiknadze finds heart as well as frivolity in Dulcinee's music. Gergiev and his chorus and orchestra are on fine form and the recorded sound, in the experienced hands of James Mallinson, is excellent.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2012  BBC Music Magazine
Opera Choice - April 2012 |
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| |  | Shostakovich: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Since winning the 11th International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1998, Denis Matsuev has established a reputation as one of Russia’s leading pianists. His first release on the Mariinsky label, featuring Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and 'Paganini Variations', received widespread acclaim. He has toured throughout Europe and North America with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, as well as performing with the LSO, Berlin and New York Philharmonics. For his second Mariinsky release with Gergiev he turns to music by Shostakovich and Shchedrin. Despite being a prolific symphonist, Shostakovich only wrote two piano concertos. His first features a prominent solo trumpet part which provides dialogue with the piano and an independent voice ‘commenting’ on the music of the piano and orchestra. Shostakovich draws in numerous musical styles within the work and displays his usual wit and sardonic humour. The Second Concerto, by contrast, is more unified and is unusually happy and optimistic in nature for Shostakovich. This may be because it was written for his son, who gave the première, and has been described as showing “the composer as though his own youth had returned to him”. The slow movement contains some of Shostakovich’s most achingly beautiful music – almost Rachmaninov-like in its Romanticism. Rodion Shchedrin has so far composed six piano concertos, each signifying a new phase in his compositional development, as well as a double concerto for piano and cello and a substantial corpus of solo piano works. His Fifth Concerto is influenced by the music of both Shostakovich and Prokofiev. “everything comes easily together in Shostakovich's Second Concerto, where both soloist and conductor reveal the music's disarming meoldic wit in a relaxed, unpressured manner and deliver a heartfelt, touchingly inflected reading of the Andante that allows the cellos plenty of room to sing out.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2012 “these new accounts of the two Shostakovich Concertos must be among the best currently available. He is brilliant and mercurial in the fast movements of both works, creatively negotiating tempo and style and bringing a sense of elan to the Second's outer movements...This unfamiliar coupling offers added value for any collector of Russian music.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2012 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | DSD recording, live at the Barbican 2-3 March 2011
The final release in Valery Gergiev’s acclaimed Mahler cycle features the composer’s Symphony No 9, recorded at the Barbican in March 2011. Mahler’s wrote his Ninth Symphony during a time of great personal suffering and heartache. This is reflected in the music, at times manic and fierce, at others delicate and serene, as it explores many emotions and ultimately concludes with the heart-stopping coda of the Adagio, seemingly conveying the composer’s acceptance of his own mortality. In addition to his recordings of Mahler’s symphonies, Gergiev’s other recent releases on LSO Live have included acclaimed recordings of music by Debussy, Ravel and Rachmaninov as well as Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet which recently won Disc of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards. Forthcoming releases on the Mariinsky label, which is managed on behalf of the Mariinsky Theatre by LSO Live, include Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, conducted by Valery Gergiev and featuring Natalie Dessay in the title role alongside Piotr Beczala and Ilya Bannik. The Mariinsky label also releases its first DVDs and Blu-Ray Discs in October. CONCERT REVIEWS “from the rosy vein struck by the strings to the honed gestures of the woodwind, here was an orchestra at one with itself and its Director” The Guardian “Gergiev’s reading was both valid and deeply moving. Finally all tears were wiped away, all coughing silenced, in a breathless,peerlessly executed coda [Adagio]” Evening Standard “There’s nothing on the classical circuit that quite compares to the full Valery Gergiev experience. Gergiev’s pacing of the Adagio ... felt absolutely right. And the LSO fiddles played majestically for him” The Times “despite typically swift speeds, there's none of the haste that some have disliked in Gergiev's Mahler. Interpretatively, however, you will either love or loathe it. It's an unusually panicky account of a work generally considered to be about mortality and resignation...The inner movements bristle with existential alarm, and the exhausted collapse at the height of the Rondo Burleske is particularly well done.” The Guardian, 8th September 2011 *** “Gergiev paces and balances [the opening's] unfolding finely, from halting start via macabre climax to nostalgic fade-out. The ensuing Landler movement duly comes as a shock as Mahler doubtless intended...The sardonic contrapuntal capers of the Rondo Burleske third movement are also played for force here...Thereafter, the reading comes back into focus, with the climax passionately delivered and an unfailing concentration in those infinitely drawn-out dying bars.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2011 *** “The LSO's lustrous, ultra-secure paying reaches astonishing virtuoso heights in the 'Rondo Burleske' Scherzo. And Gergiev unfolds Mahler's huge four-movement structure with masterly grip and command...If you like your Mahler to be a sumptuous feast of sound, look no further. If you want to be taken to the music's expressive heart, look elsewhere.” Classic FM Magazine, November 2011 *** “His conception remains pushy, extrovert and darkly opaque, the horns glowering menacingly even in moments of repose...The band displays both its corporate dexterity and its famous ability to play very loudly indeed. Surface detail is tangibly immediate, the vivid yet shallow sound stage reinforcing the impression that we are listening to a brilliant concerto for orchestra...such an interpretation will have its admirers - never boring, half-hearted or indecisive” Gramophone Magazine, November 2011 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Summer Night's Concert at SchönbrunnVirtuoso Pictures
Vienna’s musical year shines with two dates that always dazzle: The New Year’s Day concert with the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Vienna Philharmonic’s open-air June concert in the gardens of the palace of Schönbrunn, the Summer Night Concert. The program will be devoted to works by Liszt, but detailed information will not be available until later in 2011. Suffice it to say that Valery Gergiev, in the opinion of The Guardian “the greatest conductor of his generation”, will be leading the orchestra. A renowned soloist will take part in the concert for an extra dose of musical excitement As OÖNachrichten last year summed up: for the more than 100,000 people attending the concert, it was “a heavenly summer night with the Vienna Philharmonic”. The concert will be recorded and filmed by Austrian Television. It will be broadcast live or delayed by over 60 television stations worldwide. CD and DVD versions will both be rush-released. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Debussy: La Mer, Jeux & Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
DSD recording, live at the Barbican September 2009 (La mer), December 2009 (Jeux), May 2010 (Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune). Valery Gergiev has been performing Debussy’s music regularly with the LSO since he became Principal Conductor of the orchestra in 2007. For his latest LSO Live release he records three of Debussy’s most wellknown works for the first time, including a sensational performance of La mer. One of the 20th century’s most innovative and influential composers, Debussy was a 'musical impressionist', although it was a term he disliked. Despite running to little over ten minutes in duration, the sublime Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune is widely regarded as one of the important and revolutionary of musical works. La mer was completed ten years later whilst Debussy was living in Eastbourne in Sussex and is a spectacular orchestral showpiece. Jeux, one of Debussy’s final orchestral works, was written for Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. Valery Gergiev’s recent releases have included acclaimed recordings of Mahler’s Symphony No 5 and music by Debussy’s French contemporary Ravel. Gergiev and the LSO perform in London and Paris in March before embarking on a European tour in May, visiting Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. CONCERT REVIEWS: "virtuoso attention to detail and stylistic élan were on show from the start in a pungent performance of Debussy’s three orchestral sketches, La Mer" The Times "For his players, this [La Mer] was a virtuoso orchestral showcase of relentless proportions. It seemed to have been meticulously rehearsed, with the instruments precisely blended and mercurially responsive to Gergiev’s tweaks of tempo and mood. This was a characteristic LSO-at-the-Barbican sound: big, bold and glossy in the best sense" The Guardian "Gergiev and the LSO at their best: a sensual, supremely unhurried reading of Debussy’s Prélude à l’après midi d’un faune in which Gareth Davies’s flute shimmered into focus over limpid pools of colour from the harp and strings" The Independent “the disc proves Gergiev to be a fine Debussy conductor, knowing instinctively how much of his large personality he can impose on this music. His is a muscular rather than a fragile view, so there is certitude as well as subtlety even in the subtle textures of the Prélude, while in La Mer, one can almost taste the salt spray. There is a luminous reading of the exotic-erotic Jeux to end.” Sunday Times, 27th March 2011 *** “From the shimmering picture of sea rippling over pebbles to the cataclysmic force of crashing waves, this has to be the most graphic picture of La Mer placed on disc. For conductor, Valery Gergiev, the LSO a display of detailed virtuosity, before moving to a whole spectrum of subtle sounds in the playful Jeux ... A demonstration in the art of orchestral recording.” Yorkshire Evening Post “delicate, crystalline Debussy performances by the LSO … The combination of the Impressionist groundbreaker Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune with the quasi-symphonic La mer and the dance-inspired Jeux is as all-embracing as it is exquisite. Gergiev fills them with all manner of silken touches, succulently realised by the LSO’s many fine solo contributions. The crashing wave power of La mer is majestic, even awesome at times, but never rough. The lesser-played Jeux introduces more sinister hues, but is again driven by a delicious, multicoloured finesse” The Scotsman “Among the slowest of accounts [of the Prélude], it briefly seems as if the flute's intoxicating gestures have left the orchestra in a torpor - though Gergiev's reluctance to break the spell is understandable...Not that there is any lack of energy elsewhere, with delectably nuanced woodwind in 'Jeux de vagues' and Jeux driven by an inner energy.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2011 **** “Gergiev clearly loves this music, and he’s aided by pin-sharp orchestral playing and the clarity of the Barbican acoustic – I’ve never heard so many details emerge so clearly yet so naturally. And the unexpected final payoff is great.
The Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune is played just right, not too languid and with a beautiful, limpid flute solo from Gareth Davies.” Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk, 14th May 2011 “Jeux turns out to be Valery Gergiev's game, set and match. The ambiguity and transience of the music are captured with fleet-footed energy, wit and real piquancy...This degree of contrast and continuity add real backbone to the work without compromising its intrinsic unpredictability, turning the musical argument into more of an enigmatic conversation-piece as well as highlighting its genesis as a ballet.” International Record Review, May 2011 “The recording captures [the Prélude's] mesmerising force, its atmospheric languor and exceptional beauty. La mer and Jeux are scarcely less exalted, suggesting Gergiev’s partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra still has honeymoon qualities.” Financial Times, 28th May 2011 **** “This Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune is a reading which distils an almost indecently sultry languor and is marked by felicitous solo work from the LSO wind principals...The most successful item turns out to be Jeux, a less diaphanous, more sensual and hot-blooded beast than usual, pungently characterised, always alive and always sure of its destination.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2011 “From the spine-tingling opening of the Prelude, through all the colours and moods of La Mer to the enigmatic pace and enticing phrasing of Jeux, Gergiev brings out both the lucidity and the detail required...[He] loves the drama and tension of La Mer, but never allows the dynamic tension to overshadow the delicate subtlety of Debussy's revolutionary, evocative music.” Classic FM Magazine, July 2011 **** “ if you’re open for a muscular approach to La Mer, Gergiev gives a characteristically dramatic and impassioned reading. Perhaps the real gem here is a wonderfully atmospheric (and kinetic) Jeux; the composer’s late dance masterpiece sounds stunning in the full and wide-ranging LSO Live sound.” london24.com, 17th June 2011 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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