Prokofiev Cantatas
Théatre du Châtelet, Paris, Wednesday December 14 2005 Conductor: Valery Gergiev. Olga Borodina, Mezzo-Soprano. Ildar Abdrasakov, Bass. Lambert Wilson, Narrator. Chorus and orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg. Alexander Nevsky; Ivan the Terrible Talking of wild applause (as I did at the end of my review of Il viaggio a Reims the other day), rarely have I heard it so long and loud and larded with bravos after a concert as last night at the Châtelet. I wish I’d kept a copy of Le Figaro’s review of Boris , which included an excellent account of the Mariinski orchestra; I could have translated it and pretended it was my own. It takes a far cleverer writer than I to describe an orchestra’s specific sound, and goodness knows the Mariinski’s is specific. All I can say is “er….” Darker, richer, fuller, riper, louder, as if their strings were twice as thick but twice as supple, their bows twice as long, their resin twice as sticky, their brass twice as brassy and their hearts twi...