Is Gergiev as good as his reputation suggests?

[Mandryka]

Getting back to Gergiev (sort of)....does anyone else think that the acclaimed Kirov opera recordings suffer from very muddy sound? I find it a serious drawback. Rostropovich's Pique Dame is preferable to Gergiev's for this reason, even though it features a non-Russian orchestra and (largely) non-Russian cast.

[Petrushka]

...the acclaimed Kirov opera recordings suffer from very muddy sound. I find it a serious drawback.

I have problems with virtually all Gergiev's recordings where the sound is concerned whether he's with the Kirov/Mariinsky, VPO or LSO. It is all the more frustrating because I have seen him many times give some tremendous performances but also some real turkeys too. There was a stunning Rimsky Scheherazade at a 1997 Prom (on the warmest night I've ever had in the RAH as well; it was like a sauna). The recording later made by the same orchestra (the Kirov) is a massive disappointment completely ruined by the appalling sound. Tellingly, the readily forgettable concerts have been of non-Russian music. A Mozart/Brahms with the VPO springs to mind and here, I think, is Gergiev's Achilles heel. He doesn't have the all-round excellence of a Rozhdestvensky (among Russian conductors) to pull of memorable performances of music outside his homeland. As Alison mentioned up-thread, there is no Beethoven. Has he ever conducted Beethoven at all?

[amateur51]

[QUOTE=Ventilhorn;53932] His reply (in Broken English, and obviously reading from a script or autocue) was "I shall conducting Elgar, Walton and, er, Vorgan Williams in my first season"

'Vorgan' Williams Tallis Fantasia and Walton's Portsmouth Point and Cappricio and Malcolm Arnold's "Becchus the Dandiprat" overture.

Ah broken Italian AND broken English

[bluestateprommer]

While I probably haven't heard as many Gergiev recordings as Petrushka (or anyone else here), I'll admit that the ones I've heard (e.g. Pique Dame, The Love for Three Oranges) weren't compelling enough to make me want to hold on to them. His greatness may perhaps be more as an entrepeneur, in terms of boosting the Kirov's prestige on the world stage and being an advocate for Russian music. I've only heard him live 3 times, all in Russian music, as it turns out (2 symphony concerts and 1 opera).

BTW, for Petrushka, Gergiev has indeed conducted Beethoven. One American choral singer posted about a Gergiev performance of LvB 9 in Rotterdam some years back:

http://www.northworks.net/c_art_gergiev9.htm

[ardcarp]

I remember posting a long time ago (on the old Beeb boards) about Gergiev's conducting of The Rite of Spring on BBC 4. Had I been a member of that orchestra I wouldn't have had the faintest idea where his beat was. There was just a maelstrom of gestures. The result however was impressive. I guess this works with world-class players, but I doubt he would fare so well with lesser mortals.

[DoctorT]

I've just listened again with a lot of pleasure to his Romeo and Juliet as feted by the BBC Music Magazine. Seeing him conduct a couple of years ago, though, was a strange experience: I've never seen a conductor quite like him. Having said that, we get so few international class musicians in Belfast these days that I was delighted to see him!

[Ferretfancy]

Last night at the Barbican Yefim Bronfman played both the Shostakovich Piano Concertos, with Philip Cobb as the trumpeter in No. 1, and the LSO under Gergiev. Tchaikovsky's No. 3 was after the interval.

I did not think that it was one of their best efforts, the first movement of the first concerto was far too fast and co-ordination between piano and orchestra suffered. Bronfman played both pieces with excessive weight to my ears, almost as if it was Rachmaninov. These are light weight works which need crisp articulation, and only the trumpet gave us that.
Gergiev then fluttered dove like through the Polish, which struck me as a fairly routine performance, and not very well balanced at that. There were some good moments, and the bassoon got enthusiastic applause at the end, but this symphony needs more than Gergiev could offer, and I found myself longing for an Abbado.
I've enjoyed some Gergiev performances, but this was a slightly depressing experience, and his platform manner is very wearisome on the eye.

[Ventilhorn]

I've just watched Gergiev conducting Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony on Sky Arts 2.
What a shambles, especially in the first movement. For once, he had a baton, but since it was travelling upwards on the first beat of the bar, it was not helpful. Then it disappeared into his left hand, where it resided pointing downwards beneath the trembling fingers.

If this programme is repeated tomorrow morning, do take a look.
You will not believe what you see (and hear!)

VH

[Ventilhorn]

I asked the question on 8th May and there were varied opinions. So I ask again, after his last excursion with the LSO on tonight's Prom 52.

Is Gergiev as good as his reputation suggests?

It would appear that the number of doubters is increasing.

VH

[makropulos]

I asked the question on 8th May and there were varied opinions. So I ask again, after his last excursion with the LSO on tonight's Prom 52.

Is Gergiev as good as his reputation suggests?

It would appear that the number of doubters is increasing.

VH

Well VH, I'd say that very much depends on what you think his reputation does suggest. I've always thought he's a very good conductor of Rimsky-Korsakov operas and an often slipshod and infuriating one of just about everything else. So on that basis his reputation remains the same after tonight's concert.

[Chris Newman]

It is difficult to judge VG as he is so inconsistent. I am sure you, Ventilhorn, played in Silvestri's fabulous recording of Rimsky's Sheherezade with Gerald Jarvis's violin at his finest. It can be such a boring and repetitive work yet then a few years ago at the Proms Gergiev conducted the only performance that has ever (for me) matched Silvestri. I am sometimes bowled over by VG and like tonight have yet to be impressed (though as Makropoulos agrees with me, it may be poor radio sound).

[LeMartinPecheur]

"Bacchus the Dandiprat"

Who he? Surely he was Beckus before he went on the bottle?

[Chris Newman]

Originally Posted by Ventilhorn

"Bacchus the Dandiprat"


Originally posted by LeMartinPecheur

"Who he? Surely he was Beckus before he went on the bottle?"

[makropulos]

Who he? Surely he was Beckus before he went on the bottle?

Beckus and Ariadne?

[BBMmk2]

I thought Gergiev's two appearances t the proms this year were quite inspiring.