Valery Gergiev

Valery Gergiev, Mariinsky Theatre Soloists, Orchestra & Chorus – Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex / Les Noces (2010)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 74:10 minutes | Booklet (PDF) | 4,33 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Booklet (PDF) | 1,24 GB
Features Stereo and Multichannel surround sound | Mariinsky # MAR0510

Valery Gergiev brings enormous authority to two of Stravinsky’s pivotal masterworks of the 1920s, Les Noces, the dance-cantata completed in 1923, and the opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex from 1927. Les Noces, the final work from the composer’s “Russian” period, draws heavily on Russian folk material, deployed with the kind of raw rhythmic primitivism of Le Sacre du printemps. Gergiev leads vocal and instrumental forces from the Mariinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg in a propulsively energetic account of the score. The use of native Russian speakers in the vocal roles allows for a performance of such exhilarating abandon that it sounds like it is on the brink of flying out of control. One of the composer’s first major works from his neo-classical period, Oedipus Rex, also shows the influence of both Russian music and a cool, forward-looking modernism. The power of Gergiev’s reading lies in his ability to make all those elements clearly audible, and at the same time make them coalesce into a coherent and urgently dramatic performance; he turns the familiar story into a real nail-biter that builds to an overwhelming conclusion. The full forces of the Orchestra and the Men of the Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre perform with unreserved power and focus. The soloists are all very fine, and some are much more than fine. Sergei Semishkur’s Oedipus does not make an especially strong beginning, but he gathers gravitas and force as the opera progresses. Ekaterina Semenchuk, a powerful and moving Jocasta, has a large, expressive voice that is penetrating from top to bottom. Evgeny Nikitin shines as Creon and the Messenger. Gérard Depardieu is an appropriately dramatic and dignified narrator. The monumentality of this terrific performance is perfectly suited to the high seriousness and grandeur of the opera. The sound of the Mariinsky hybrid SACD is vibrant and thrillingly present. Highly recommended.

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Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev – Wagner: Das Rheingold (2013)
PS3 Rip | 2x SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 02:27:42 minutes | Digital Booklet | 8,31 GB
Features Stereo and Multichannel surround sound

The first part of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, and the shortest opera in the cycle, Das Rheingold serves as an introductory evening performance that opens the series, followed successively by three full-length music dramas, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Die Götterdämmerung. However, this concert recording by Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra is the second installment in their Ring, following the early 2013 release of Die Walküre. By reviving Wagner’s music in Russia, which was banned during the Soviet era and remained little explored for decades, Gergiev has tapped into a rich vein of artistry that brings a fresh appreciation of the Ring’s drama and sonorities. The international cast, headed by René Pape as a powerful Wotan, features some of the best Wagner singers available, including Ekaterina Gubanova as Fricka and Nikolai Putilin as Alberich. The critically praised Mariinsky Orchestra has demonstrated its great skill in playing Wagner’s demanding score, and the SACD presentation gives it astonishing clarity, depth, and presence, all required to make these mythological music dramas come to life.

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Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev – Shostakovich: Symphonies 1 & 15 (2009)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 75:45 minutes | Digital Booklet | 3,61 GB
Features Stereo and Multichannel surround sound

Valery Gergiev’s recordings of Shostakovich’s Sixth through Ninth symphonies were released on Philips, but this disc of the First and Fifteenth symphonies has been issued on the Mariinsky label, which is run by the St. Petersburg theater from which the label takes its name. The performances are disappointing, but not from a technical point of view; Gergiev is one of the finest living Russian conductors, and the Mariinsky Orchestra is one of the best Russian orchestras whose playing here is never less than superb. On an interpretive level, though, Gergiev and the Mariinsky leave much to be desired. The First Symphony lacks fire in the opening Allegretto, drive in the Scherzo, depth in the Lento, and drama in the closing Allegro molto. The performance of the Fifteenth is even less impressive. The composer’s last symphony calls for biting humor and bitter irony in the first and third movements, and enormous sorrow and tremendous terror in the second and fourth movements. Gergiev and the Mariinsky, however, deliver a straight-forward account that leaves the work’s stronger emotions untouched. Recorded in clear but oddly empty digital sound, this disc may satisfy Gergiev fans, but may not do much for fans of the composer.

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Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev – Massenet: Don Quichotte (2012)
PS3 Rip | 2x SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 111:35 minutes | Digital Booklet | 5,97 GB
an heroic comedy in five acts | Features Stereo and Multichannel surround sound

Massenet’s Don Quichotte has never quite established itself in the repertoire, not because of any deficit in the music, but because it’s not immediately evident exactly what it is dramatically; is it a comedy or tragedy or some more subtle blend of the two? The last option seems to reflect the usual approach to it, which makes it a hard sell for audiences. Valery Gergiev clearly envisions it a comedy, though one with a poignant ending, and the certainty of his vision make this an exceptionally compelling and coherent presentation of the opera. His position is supported by the program notes, which point out the extent to which Massenet filled the score with tongue-in-cheek parodies of operatic conventions, such as his send-up of Gounod’s pieties in the Don’s fervent entreaty to the Chief of the Bandits. Gergiev’s reading is energetically paced, and the vivacious playing and singing of the Mariinsky Orchestra and the Soloists’ Ensemble of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers convey boisterous vitality. This is one version of the opera that avoids the mawkish sentimentality to which most performances fall prey. Mezzo-soprano Anna Kiknadze is a youthful, warmly seductive, and high-spirited Dulcinée; her portrayal suggests what Carmen might have been like had she had a more bourgeois upbringing and better impulse control. Her full, colorful voice and lively acting makes it easy to imagine her as a vivid Carmen. Ferruccio Furlanetto has established himself as master of tragic Verdi roles like King Philip in Don Carlos and Silva in Ernani. He may not have the vocal gravitas of singers like Chaliapin and Christoff in the role, but he has plenty of power and he’s a terrific actor. He excels in comedy and convincingly establishes the tricky balance between the Don’s frail dignity and absurdity, and he makes him a character who’s not only sympathetic but believable. As Sancho, Andrei Serov, sings robustly and is an effective foil to Furlanetto. The smaller roles are consistently well taken. Although there are no French performers involved in the opera, Gergiev draws out performances that are idiomatically Gallic. The sound of Mariinsky’s SACD is well balanced, very clean, and clearly detailed. Overall, this exemplary performance makes the most compelling recorded case for Don Quichotte as an opera that deserves a place in the more standard repertoire.

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London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev – Debussy: La mer, Jeux & Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune (2011)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & DST64 6.0 >1-bit/2.8224 MHz | Front Cover | 3.29 GB 
FLAC tracks 2.0 24bit/88.2 kHz | Front Cover | 900 MB 

Valery Gergiev’s 1st recording of French music on the LSO Live label, Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Boléro, Pavane – Gergiev was characterised by an unexpected affinity for this music & a warmth of expression not usually associated with this conductor. This follow-up issue confirms Gergiev’s credentials as a Francophile conductor (as do his recent meticulous performances of the music of Henri Dutilleux at the Barbican.

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Valery Gergiev, Kirov Orchestra (Mariinsky) – Shostakovich Symphony 5 & 9 (2004)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 73:36 minutes | Artwork (PDF) | 4,24 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Artwork (PDF) | 1,36 GB
Features 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 multichannel surround sound | Decca/Philips # 470 651-2

The argument could be made that Valery Gergiev and his Kirov orchestra’s 2002 recording of Shostakovich’s Fifth and Ninth symphonies on Philips is the ne plus ultra of Shostakovich recordings. The sound of the recording is staggering: crisp, rich, and vivid. The playing of the orchestra is stunning: plush, powerful, and precise. The conducting is superb: strong, firm, and flexible.

The argument could also be made that this is far more a Gergiev/Kirov recording than a Shostakovich recording. Gergiev interprets like mad: pushing and pulling tempos, stopping, starting, then suddenly changing the tempo altogether. His louds are overwhelming, his quiets are almost inaudible, and the distance between the two is incommensurable. There are times in this recording when it sounds as if the music is going to explode from the incredible and inexorable intensity of Gergiev’s interpretations. While nothing like the recordings of Yevgeny Mravinsky with the Leningrad Philharmonic, the conductor and orchestra that gave the work its premiere, Gergiev with the Kirov’s recording is nothing if it’s not the ne plus ultra.

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Valery Gergiev, Kirov Orchestra (Mariinsky) – Shostakovich Symphony 4 (2004)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 64:14 minutes | Artwork (PDF) | 3,96 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Artwork (PDF) | 1,17 GB
Features 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 multichannel surround sound | Decca/Philips # 475 6190

Valery Gergiev holds the opening movement of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4 together by sheer willpower. Since the gargantuan movement sprawls like a drunken giant, lurching from pseudo-exposition through inchoate development and faux-recapitulation and amorphous coda, nothing else but willpower could possibly do it. And, amazingly enough, it works. With the tremendously muscular playing of the Kirov Orchestra, Gergiev makes chaos cohere and even convince, if not quite compel. After the opening movement, Shostakovich’s Fourth does hold together and hold together brilliantly. The central movement is as tight and hard as a blackjack and the closing movement, although even larger and longer than the opening, has a dramatic logic as rigorous and severe as a machine gun. But Gergiev’s will power never relaxes and his closing movement is not only coherent and convincing, it is immensely compelling. Indeed, taken altogether, Gergiev and the Kirov’s Fourth is surely the most compelling recording of the work to come out of Russia since Kiril Kondrashin’s premiere recording from the ’60s. No higher praise is possible. Philips’ sound has the impact and immediacy of a sledgehammer.

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