August 2012

BBC Proms 2012: Prokofiev Cinderella - Valery Gergiev

Wed 22 Aug 2012, Royal Albert Hall

Classical Source, 23 Aug 2012
There was no unwonted edginess with the expert, full-toned LSO and only a few awkward corners even with the violins seated antiphonally. Woodwind were characterful as well as virtuosic, individual contributions more easily differentiated than might have been the case in the Barbican Hall’s blunter acoustic straitjacket.
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Edinburgh International Festival: Szymanowski 4/Szymanowski Violin Concerto No 2/Brahms 4

Sun 19 Aug 2012, Usher Hall Edinburgh

The Scotsman, 20 Aug 2012
Denis Matsuev is a strong and energetic pianist, essential attributes for his combat with an orchestra juggling the rhapsodic lushness of Ravel with the wit of Shostakovich and the ghost of Bartok.
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Edinburgh International Festival: Brahms 3/Brahms Variations on a Theme of Haydn/Szymanowski 3 - Valery Gergiev/Steve Davislim/Edinburgh Festival Chorus

Sat 18 Oct 2012, Usher Hall Edinburgh

The Scotsman, 20 Aug 2012
In the extraordinary partnership between conductor and orchestra, the range of expression was of subtle beauty, yet so telling, especially the second movement’s shifts of tone and dynamic.
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Edinburgh International Festival: Brahms Tragic Overture/Szymanowski 2/Brahms 2 - Valery Gergiev

Fri 17 Aug 2012, Usher Hall Edinburgh

The Scotsman, 18 Aug 2012
Star of the show was Szymanowski’s Second Symphony, a piece that’s rarely performed – although when you hear its lush orchestration and surging climaxes, you begin to wonder why. It’s the ideal piece for Gergiev’s driven showmanship. And although he gave a sparkling performance full of energy and colour, it wasn’t just empty show.
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Edinburgh International Festival: Szymanowski 1/Szymanowski Violin Concerto 1/Brahms 1 - Valery Gergiev/Nicola Benedetti

Thu 16 Aug 2012, Usher Hall Edinburgh

The Scotsman, 18 Aug 2012
The pairing of these composers proved so much more potent in outcome than they did in expectation. For in the wake of Szymanowski’s prototype 
heart-racer of a First Symphony, and the shimmering restlessness of his Violin Concerto No 1, the sheer groundedness of Brahms’ own First Symphony was like settling to a fine fillet steak after an exotically spiced couple of starters.
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The Herald, 18 Aug 2012
The menacing and crisp opening of Szymanowski's first symphony rocked between wild passages and more mournful solos from strings and woodwind. The movement ended, however, in a raging fury from the whole orchestra, with a bang, then a final quiet chord, leaving the fury hanging.
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Arts Journal, 19 Aug 2012
Szymanowski confessed to suffering a psychological torment which made it impossible for him to complete his First Symphony. His suffering came through under Gergiev’s baton, with the LSO bringing out the rich texture and tonal complexity of the composer’s fascinating, if incomplete, symphony.
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Financial Times, 19 Aug 2012
It was a relief to spend the concert’s second half listening to the Brahms First Symphony in Gergiev’s old-school reading – a generous pulse, a large, well-blended sound, a compelling sense of musical purpose.
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The Times, 20 Aug 2012
[Szymanowski's Frist Violin Concerto], in one kaleidoscopic movement, casts the soloist as lyrical muse soaring above fantastical Firebird-like orchestral flurries. Making her belated Edinburgh Festival debut (given that she is, at 25, practically a Scottish icon) Nicola Benedetti played ravishingly. 
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The Guardian, 21 Aug 2012
The last movement was tremendous, the great theme lithe and urgent first time around, and luxuriant the second. It will be fascinating to hear how the cycle pans out.
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