Search
Special Offers
Awards
Online Payment
Visit us
Presto News - 1st June 2009Gergiev at the Mariinsky |
 With all the doom and gloom still dominating the headlines, the news of a new record label launching comes as something of a surprise but that is exactly what the Mariinsky Theatre have just done – launching their own label (simply called ‘Mariinsky’) with the release last week of Shostakovich’s satirical opera The Nose. The Mariinsky theatre has a long and illustrious history, primarily under the name of the Kirov Opera and Ballet by which it was known until recently. But in the last twenty years, under the guidance of Artistic Director Valery Gergiev it has entered a new era of artistic excellence and creativity, and is now considered one of the very finest in world. Gergiev rules with an autocracy pretty much unparalleled today, where he has complete control over all decisions, whether they be artistic, financial or strategic. You probably have to go back to Karajan and his relationship with the Berlin Philharmonic to find a conductor with such personality and influence.  Valery Gergiev Gergiev was elected artistic director in 1988 and signed an exclusive contract with Philips the year after. The next three years were very difficult in Russia with the country basically breaking up and, with little or no money to pay musicians, many of the biggest stars like Gidon Kremer, Evgeny Kissin, Vadim Repin and Maxim Vengerov emigrated. The fact that Gergiev stayed and fought through all this is I suspect one of the reasons why he is so highly respected and esteemed by his fellow countrymen now. The collaboration with Philips lasted many years and produced both fantastic and award winning recordings. The projects they undertook were often huge and included a large number of Russian operas such as Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Prokofiev’s War and Peace. However, in recent years Philips (now part of Decca) have like all the majors considerably cut back on the number of new recordings they make. In an interview with the New York Times earlier this year Gergiev said that he felt they had abandoned making serious recordings altogether: “Did they want to do a Mahler cycle?” he asked, rhetorically. “No. Beethoven, no. They didn’t even want all of Tchaikovsky.” Either way Philip’s loss has been LSO Live’s and now Mariinsky’s gain. The Mahler cycle is ongoing under the former while Mariinsky already have several recordings in the can and I’ve seen some mouth-watering projects (including a number of Wagner operas) in the advance schedule. If you’d like to find out more about what Gergiev has achieved at the Mariinsky then you can read the entire facilitating New York Times article here. But finally, I want to return briefly to the new release of Shostakovich’s opera The Nose. It was recorded in Mariinsky’s new concert hall which by all accounts is acoustically one of the finest ever built. And the sound of the orchestra and soloists on this new recording is quite superb. The Nose is one of Shostakovich’s earliest works and was written when he was in his early twenties. In many ways I’d say it sounds like it, and while there isn’t really enough material to justify the three acts, it is really quite exciting to hear the way the unrefined and raw Shostakovich thought. Either way the performance is superb and it is a thoroughly worthwhile and enjoyable addition to the catalogue.
|
Share
|
 Shostakovich: The NoseVladislav Sulimsky, Alexei Tanovitski,Tatiana Kravtsova, Andrei Popov, Sergei Semishkur, Gennady Bezzubenkov, Vadim Kravets, Sergei Skorokhodov,Yevgeny Strashko, Elena Vitman & Zhanna Dombrovskaya Mariinsky Orchestra & Chorus, Valery Gergiev |
Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
New Releases1st June 2009 |
This is just the pick of the recent releases. The New Releases and Future Releases pages are always available for browsing all the new and forthcoming releases. |
 Ravel - SongsGerald Finley (baritone) & Julius Drake (piano)The award-winning partnership of Gerald Finley and Julius Drake continue their musical explorations with this beautiful and thought-provoking disc. Gerald Finley’s lustrous tones, extraordinary gift for characterisation, and direct, unaffected utterance make him an ideal and revelatory performer of Ravel’s songs. |
 Bach - Cantatas Volume 43Hana Blažíková (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Gerd Türk (tenor) & Peter Kooij (bass), Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki SuzukiThree Christmas cantatas from 1725 make up the programme of the 43rd volume in Masaaki Suzuki’s and Bach Collegium Japan’s highly praised cycle of Bach’s cantatas. |
 Monteverdi - Sweet TormentI Fagiolini, Robert Hollingworth (director)In this third survey of their Monteverdi madrigals, I Fagiolini once again demonstrate the astonishing range of the composer’s secular art, leading us from the works of his early Mantuan maturity to the Baroque glories of his Venetian years, before returning us to the seconda pratica in Il Ballo dell’ Ingrate. |
 Jackson - Not no faceless Angel and other choral worksPolyphony, Stephen LaytonPolyphony’s recordings of contemporary choral music are among Hyperion’s perennial best-sellers and have introduced thousands of listeners to magical new worlds of sound. On this new disc for Hyperion under their inspirational director, Stephen Layton, the composer Gabriel Jackson gets the Polyphony treatment. The result is a dazzling collection which will inspire and enchant the listener. |
 Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 17 Nos. 1-6 (complete)The London Haydn QuartetHaydn’s String Quartets Op 17 were written during his most effusively productive period, during his tenure in the service of the Esterházy family. He had a magnificent group of musicians at his disposal, including the young virtuoso violinist Luigi Tomasini, whose genius can be traced throughout these works, particularly in the achingly beautiful melodies of the adagio movements. These string quartets mark Haydn’s emergence as an indisputably great composer. They have a seriousness of intent and an increasing mastery of rhetoric and thematic development that are a world away from the lightweight divertimento-quartets that he was formerly producing. |
 Songs of Lennox BerkeleyJames Gilchrist (tenor), Anna Tilbrook (piano) & Alison Nicholls (harp)Acclaimed as a concert soloist, recitalist and a recording artist, James Gilchrist is one of the finest British tenors of today. In his first solo disc for Chandos, he performs a representative survey of the songs of Lennox Berkeley which demonstrates the distinctly Gallic flavour inspired by his time in France along with a spiritual intensity from his devotion to Roman Catholicism. James is accompanied by Anna Tilbrook on piano and Alison Nicholls on harp. |
 Beethoven - Piano Quartet & String QuintetThe Nash EnsembleThe Nash Ensemble continues its critically acclaimed survey of Beethoven’s rarer chamber music in an intriguing new disc. The String Quintet Op 104 is an arrangement of Beethoven’s revolutionary Piano Trio No 3, a work which shocked contemporary listeners. Beethoven’s brilliance as an arranger is not perhaps his most well-known musical characteristic, but it is vividly apparent here; the transformation from piano to string writing ushering in an explosion of colour. The music is profoundly Beethovenian in its abrupt, extreme contrasts, violent rhetoric alternating with intense pathos and yearning lyricism. |
 The Sibelius Edition - Volume 8 - Orchestral MusicGothenburg Symphony Orchestra & Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi & Jaakko KuusistoThis instalment returns to the field in which the Finnish master has earned the greatest acclaim. Sibelius himself is reported to have said: ‘I am a man of the orchestra. You must judge me from my orchestral works.’ This disc includes some of Sibelius’s best-known works (the Violin Concerto in Leonidas Kavakos’ award-winning recording and the Karelia Suite newly recorded by Osmo Vänskä to name but two) to rarities such as an early version of Rakastava never previously on disc. |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 30th May 2009 |
Building a Library - Monterverdi - Eighth Book of Madrigals |
 First ChoiceLa Venexiana“In their Monteverdi Editions, La Venexiana bring a dramatic delivery of the words and a uniquely Italian blend of solo voices to this glorious music, unrivalled on disc.” Sunday Times |
Disc of the Week |
 Schumann/Heine LiederFlorian Boesch (baritone) & Malcolm Martineau (piano) |
Your details will be used only in accordance with our Privacy Policy. |
Copyright © 2002-13 Presto Classical Limited, all rights reserved.