VPO under Gergiev in an all-Prokofiev programme
Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Tuesday October 9 2018
Conductor: Valery Gergiev. Pianist: Denis Matsuev. Wiener Philharmoniker
Prokofiev:
Romeo and Juliet:
Montagues and CapuletsJuliet as a Young GirlMasksRomeo at the Tomb of JulietConcerto pour piano n° 2 op. 16Symphony n° 6 op. 111 This concert with the VPO under Gergiev had a markedly different temperature (or perhaps the word is temperament) from the one last week with the Philharmonia under Salonen. While both were virtuoso performances, naturally, Salonen’s was relatively cool and restrained and the Philharmonia’s sound overall was what I called “matter of fact”, while Gergiev’s thermometer went frequently up to red hot and occasionally - as in the angular (“constructivist”, the programme notes suggested) 6th symphony - white and, just as I said Salonen was not, paroxystic. Yet Gergiev can also do meltingly tender when the work calls for it. As I remarked later to an old lady living in the States, it’s amazing what one man can …
Conductor: Valery Gergiev. Pianist: Denis Matsuev. Wiener Philharmoniker
Prokofiev:
Romeo and Juliet:
Montagues and CapuletsJuliet as a Young GirlMasksRomeo at the Tomb of JulietConcerto pour piano n° 2 op. 16Symphony n° 6 op. 111 This concert with the VPO under Gergiev had a markedly different temperature (or perhaps the word is temperament) from the one last week with the Philharmonia under Salonen. While both were virtuoso performances, naturally, Salonen’s was relatively cool and restrained and the Philharmonia’s sound overall was what I called “matter of fact”, while Gergiev’s thermometer went frequently up to red hot and occasionally - as in the angular (“constructivist”, the programme notes suggested) 6th symphony - white and, just as I said Salonen was not, paroxystic. Yet Gergiev can also do meltingly tender when the work calls for it. As I remarked later to an old lady living in the States, it’s amazing what one man can …
