Valery Gergiev--The Most Overrated Conductor?

[Nick Armstrong]

but, nothing actionable as yet....

[teamsaint]

i thought a " Disappointed" smiley (?!) would be more in order......

but the economy IS picking up...so gideon says.....

[Dave2002]

I have heard him many times, and some of his performances have been very good, while others have been much less impressive. I think the first time was in Shostakovich 4, at the Proms, which just blew me away. Some of his other performances with the LSO have been very good too. I heard the Mahler 8 in St Pauls which was in many ways atrocious, though it arguably was madness to play that work in that acoustic in any case. Gergiev did argue on one of the BBC Saturday morning programmes that it worked despite the difficulties with the acoustic. Not everyone will agree, though perhaps the final recording is actually a bit less of a mess than the live performance.

I've heard rumours about Gergiev's politics and other things. For the time being I'm prepared to ignore those - I assumed we were discussing his abilities as a musician. He is almost certainly not consistently as politically bad as some would have him to be, and on checking he was influential in helping in the aftermath of the Beslan massacre, and he has also been helpful in promoting music, both in the UK and elsewhere. He could be telling the truth when he says that he is too busy to get involved in politics, though if it is true that he and Putin are friends then that could be a very naive point of view.

He is almost certainly overstretched - sometimes ludicrously so. Around a decade ago on four consecutive days in St. Petersburg he conducted Turandot, Verdi Requiem, Mahler 8 and Khovanshina. Madness. I gather that the Turandot was good. This is the schedule from 2004:

24th Nov: Khovanshina - Mussorgsky
25th Nov. Verdi Requiem
26th Nov. Puccini - Turandot
27th Nov. Mahler - 8th Symphony

[Nick Armstrong]

i thought a " Disappointed" smiley (?!) would be more in order......

I was thinking of frenchie!

[richardfinegold]

The criticism of Lenny didn't spill over to a personal level, in the way that it did with Sinopoli. The current attitude towards G reminds me of the attitude towards S. People couldn't understand the genius of S. There also might be reasons why G has a career as a musician that people don't understand. Then they'll just have to marvel, I suppose.

Regarding Lenny...I refer you to Tom Wolfe's article, Radical Chic

[David-G]

I have heard Gergiev conduct some superb performances of Russian opera with the Mariinsky. I suspect that this may be where he is at his best.

I admire him for having seen the Mariinsky through some very difficult times. Money has of course been very necessary for this; and I have often thought that this may be the reason that he has cultivated his relationship with Putin.

I will be hearing him conduct the Mariinsky in “Les Troyens” in Edinburgh in August. Should be interesting…

[Beef Oven!]

Regarding Lenny...I refer you to Tom Wolfe's article, Radical Chic

In general, I mean.

[Ferretfancy]

When he conducted the complete Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty at the Proms a few years back, he had only flown in from Russia a couple of hours before, and the LSO played superbly. Again, a Barbican performance of Petrushka was as good as you could possibly expect. There's no doubt that he is erratic, but maybe he requires pressure to be at his best. The question remains as he shuttles around, who prepares the performance if he is not at rehearsal ?

[Hornspieler]

When he conducted the complete Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty at the Proms a few years back, he had only flown in from Russia a couple of hours before, and the LSO played superbly. Again, a Barbican performance of Petrushka was as good as you could possibly expect. There's no doubt that he is erratic, but maybe he requires pressure to be at his best. The question remains as he shuttles around, who prepares the performance if he is not at rehearsal ?

I'm afraid that you've opened a can of worms with that question.

If a conductor has had no preparation time (or is incompetant in some cases) you give him the last great performance that you played under a previous conductor - so he gets the accolade from the customers and beams with pleasure and the reputation of the orchestra has not suffered at his hands.

Perhaps that accounts a lot for the much-travelled Gergiev's success. (Just keep moving, so's nobody can draw a steady bead.)

As my friend Louis would say, "At the end of the day, business is business. It's the conkers on the counter that matter in this game."

HS

[verismissimo]

At a dinner party in Blackheath some twenty years ago, the late lamented Sir Edward Downes nominated JEG to this title.

[Pabmusic]

I'm afraid that you've opened a can of worms with that question...

When Sir Adrian recorded Elgar's The Apostles, the orchestra and choir had actually been rehearsed (over some time) by Vernon Handley.

[Ferretfancy]

When Sir Adrian recorded Elgar's The Apostles, the orchestra and choir had actually been rehearsed (over some time) by Vernon Handley.

Yes, but in this case they were close colleagues who understood each other well. There is also the point that in a recording session with numerous takes there is scope for changes. This seems to me a rather different situation to the scenario in which a conductor flies in at the nick of time and takes over from a junior assistant of some kind, as I suspect may be the case with Gergiev.

[amateur51]

I'm afraid that you've opened a can of worms with that question.

If a conductor has had no preparation time (or is incompetant in some cases) you give him the last great performance that you played under a previous conductor - so he gets the accolade from the customers and beams with pleasure and the reputation of the orchestra has not suffered at his hands.

Perhaps that accounts a lot for the much-travelled Gergiev's success. (Just keep moving, so's nobody can draw a steady bead.)

As my friend Louis would say, "At the end of the day, business is business. It's the conkers on the counter that matter in this game."

HS

Fascinating insight into orchestral psychology, HS - many thanks

[Pabmusic]

Yes, but in this case they were close colleagues who understood each other well. There is also the point that in a recording session with numerous takes there is scope for changes. This seems to me a rather different situation to the scenario in which a conductor flies in at the nick of time and takes over from a junior assistant of some kind, as I suspect may be the case with Gergiev.

With which I disagree not a jot...

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[cloughie]

When Sir Adrian recorded Elgar's The Apostles, the orchestra and choir had actually been rehearsed (over some time) by Vernon Handley.

Am I being naïve to suggest that this is how young conductors learn their trade eg Cantelli with Toscanini, Marin Alsop with Bernstein!