What do you think of Gergiev?

[BitPerfectRichard]

I am interested to hear where you think Valery Gergiev ranks in the firmament of contemporary conductors?  Given the relative prestige of his various current and prior appointments you would think he would be right up there.  Me, I remain to be convinced.  Starting with his "White Nights" CD that I bought from Columbia House over 20 years ago, and continuing with various LSO Live recordings that I get via my bargain-basement B&W Society Of Sound subscription, I tend to find his work perfunctory and unimaginative (with maybe the odd exception here and there).

Since I'm just an ordinary consumer, and don't consider myself to be any sort of authority, I thought it would be interesting to throw it out there for discussion.  I'll be very interested to read what others think.  If you wanted to calibrate your opinion of my opinion you'll no doubt ask which conductor I admire the most.  That would be Mariss Jansons.  Actually, I also love the almost diametrically opposite work of Pierre Boulez, although as he sadly passed away yesterday he no longer makes the cut as a contemporary conductor .

[Mirror Image]

I seriously think Gergiev has done some good work, but it's just so hit/miss that I'm, in many cases, too scared to take a chance on one of his recordings. One of the best things he did with the LSO is Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2. This performance isn't one of these tear every note apart and put it under a microscope. This is a brooding, emotionally satisfying reading of a classic. This said, I tend to favor his older work. My favorite Gergiev recording is probably his recording of Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky coupled with the Scythian Suite w/ the Kirov Orchestra on Philips. I also think his recording of Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps is one of the most brutal and passionate on record. Absolutely thrilling. Check these out (if you haven't already done so).

[Brian]

By the way, welcome to the forum! Your avatar is perfection.

[Jay F]

Friend of Putin.

[Abuelo Igor]

Friend of Putin.

I think that is what most of the current dislike for him really boils down to. 

Seriously, I cannot get too excited about what I've heard of his work with the LSO, but some of his recordings of the Russian warhorses in his old Philips days are interesting. He actually found a way of doing them in a different way, far from the "correct" Western choices conductors made all the time when playing that music.

It seems, though, like he started to lose personality as a performer the moment he took on the Big International Conductor mantle.

[vandermolen]

I like his CD of Prokofiev's film music for Ivan the Terrible:
[asin]B000FG5PJ0[/asin]
PS, yes, great avatar.

[Karl Henning]

Whatever else has happened since, musically and otherwise, I cannot dispel nor deny the power and excellence of a live performance I saw broadcast on Petersburg TV of Gergiev conducting Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashment & Slava in Schnittke's Concerto for Three.  It was completely mesmerizing (and it is not too much to say that this experience alone sold me on Schnittke).  I've quoted Billy Wilder's dictum before: You're as good as the best thing you've done.  If we allow this, Gergiev is damned good.

[Monsieur Croche]

Whatever else has happened since, musically and otherwise, I cannot dispel nor deny the power and excellence of a live performance I saw broadcast on Petersburg TV of Gergiev conducting Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashment & Slava in Schnittke's Concerto for Three.  It was completely mesmerizing (and it is not too much to say that this experience alone sold me on Schnittke).  I've quoted Billy Wilder's dictum before: You're as good as the best thing you've done[/color][/i].  If we allow this, Gergiev is damned good.

There is the above Billy Wilder quote, which maybe better applies to a retrospective look at a career, and that 'other quote,' from the same bailiwick, Hollywood,
"You're only as good as your last performance."

I'm kinda more with Mr. Wilder. When a career is 'complete,' if in retrospect you've done one magnificent thing, that, if nothing else, will likely be long remembered.

[knight66]

I, like some others here, find him hit and miss. My favourite disc of his is the complete Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet. It is superb, very dramatic and full of life. The playing is excellent. Some of his Mahler I have not much enjoyed.

Live has been equally spotty. I went to a London concert performance of Berlioz Faust. It clearly was under rehearsed and frankly shoddy. Lots of errors with the choral entries and he simply did not seem sympathetic to the piece. It was recorded for CD issue but has not been issued and I don't think it ever would be. I don't blame the chorus, it was clearly a lack of rehearsal that caused the slip ups. It was the worst professional performance I have heard in London.

At the Edinburgh Festival this year, he did a concert of Bartok's Miraculous Manderin Suite and Stravinsky's Sacre. During the Bartok he stood his heab bowed to the score, I could see him side on and never once saw him look at the orchestra, he simply did not know the score. Then for the Stravinsky, the exact opposite, he was all eyes on the orchestra and barely looked at the score. The performance was superb, though I was by then in no real mood to appreciate it.

I often hear that his diary is so packed that rehearsals are scant. He sends in assistants to cover rehearsals and arrives the day of a performance and tops and tails the pieces. He clearly thrives on overload; the music does not. A great talent of a good day, but too many off-days for me.

Mike

[BitPerfectRichard]

.... One of the best things he did with the LSO is Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2. This performance isn't one of these tear every note apart and put it under a microscope. This is a brooding, emotionally satisfying reading of a classic. .... I also think his recording of Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps is one of the most brutal and passionate on record. Absolutely thrilling.
...

It turns out I have both of these but haven't listened to either in a while, so following your recommendation I spent some time with both.  The Rachmaninov doesn't really inspire me greatly, but his Rite is very well done indeed.  I have about 20-odd recordings of that [I studied it way back in the '70s and have felt a compulsion to collect recordings ever since!], and I had forgotten that Gergiev's is one of the better ones, if (IMHO) some way short of Bernstein's 1959 reference which I have on LP.

[Mirror Image]

It turns out I have both of these but haven't listened to either in a while, so following your recommendation I spent some time with both.  The Rachmaninov doesn't really inspire me greatly, but his Rite is very well done indeed.  I have about 20-odd recordings of that [I studied it way back in the '70s and have felt a compulsion to collect recordings ever since!], and I had forgotten that Gergiev's is one of the better ones, if (IMHO) some way short of Bernstein's 1959 reference which I have on LP.

Well considering I don't enjoy Gergiev's work with LSO, the Rachmaninov surprised me, but, I agree, it's not great. The Stravinsky and the recording he did of Prokofiev's Scythian Suite and Alexander Nevsky is top-drawer. Glad you enjoyed his Rite. A scorching performance. That Bernstein 1959 is pretty good, but I don't really enjoy Bernstein's Stravinsky too much. Here I prefer Boulez, Craft, Abbado, Stravinsky's own performances, among others.

[zamyrabyrd]

I caught the series of Tchaikovsky Symphonies on Mezzo TV conducted by Gergiev at the Salle Pleyel in 2010. Wow, that was really something to look forward to! The Maryinsky Orchestra was focused and dedicated. There were also some plums thrown in like the Polonaise from "Eugene Onegin". This can be bought on DVD. Just great!

[jlaurson]

On that note:


Latest on Forbes.com:


Gergiev Starts Into Second Season In Munich

...On the subject of live-streaming concerts (a concept about which slight confusion seems to reign, when a live-stream of a concert from a few days ago was being promised) there came the comment, almost an aside, that because Gergiev's a star, there were plenty of streaming requests coming forth. It was a blink-or-you-miss-it moment. But Woha! I'll explain in a second....


http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/04/09/gergiev-starts-into-second-season-in-munich/#2a6df96c34b7

[Kontrapunctus]

I don't care for his underplayed Mahler, but I like most of his other work. I saw him conduct Shostakovich's 11th and Rachmaninov's 3rd Piano Concerto with Denis Matsuev (2 different concerts)--both were incredibly intense.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Gergiev is a terrific musician at times, less than terrific at other times....I haven't ever had the opportunity to see him live but I find it preposterous that any conductor would program a piece they do not know inside out!