Valery Gergiev’s authentic Tchaikovsky

The tour began on 4 October in America. Since then, the orchestra has performed in New Brunswick, Fairfax and New York. The most significant event was a performance of all six of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s symphonies at Carnegie Hall to commemorate one hundred and twenty years since the hall opened.

The American press unanimously declared the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and Valery Gergiev’s concerts at Carnegie Hall to be an astounding success.

The title of the first review (7 October) by Anthony Tommasini for The New York Times was From Russia, Authentic Tchaikovsky, With Love. The critic noted that “naturalness was the hallmark of these performances,” “the selling point of this survey is not adventurousness but authenticity” and as a result “the ovation went on and on.” The author admits that he could not “imagine more lived-in and honest performances” of the composer’s Pathétique symphony. Tommasini also pays tribute to the programmes of the concerts themselves: “Mr Gergiev could have chosen to perform the symphonies in chronological order. But by pairing the First and the Sixth (and in subsequent programs, the Second and Fifth, and the Third and Fourth), the idea, it would seem, is for audiences to hear the symphonies as a body of work. (…) I was struck by the resonances between the First and the Pathétique, which Tchaikovsky conducted in its premiere in 1893, only days before his sudden death at 53.”

Tommasini gives an analysis of two concerts in the series in his review on 11 October, in which he refers to the recently released Mariinsky label DVD recording of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies.

On Concertonet.com Harry Rolnick notes that every concert at Carnegie Hall was sold out. Audiences came to see Gergiev, “who, through upbringing and artistry, with more affinity than any living conductor” is closest to Tchaikovsky. Rolnick writes of the “heavy auditory sensation” and “a world-weary gravity that overcame the martial fanfares and out-of-the-closet emotions” in the Fourth Symphony. The critic noted that Gergiev, “conducting without a baton, with a minimum of body movement, can bring an orchestra to the height of passion.”

In The Washington Post Anne Midgette reviewed Daniil Trifonov’s performance with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra at the George Mason University’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax on 8 October. In Trifonov she saw a “19^th century romantic poet”, “freakishly brilliant”, who is the “stereotype of the Russian pianistic virtuoso. According to the critic, Gergiev and Trifonov are ideally suited to each other in terms of performing style. In his column for the Washingtonian magazine Charles Downey draws his readers’ attention to Daniil Trifonov’s virtuoso performing skills: “When the piece needed drama and flash, Trifonov produced it and then some, showing himself to be a mesmerizing story teller at the keyboard.”

Elise Knutsen of The New York Observer wrote of the first performance by the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev at the opening of the season at Carnegie Hall that “the theme of the evening was Russian.” On the evening of 5 October all of New York’s beau monde assembled at this legendary venue. High society in tails and evening dresses stood patiently on the street and waited beneath the scaffolding as the crowd slowly filtered inside, while in the foyer “the grand dames of New York greeted one another with stately cordiality.” Anna Netrebko, who spoke to the journalist for a few minutes during the celebratory dinner marking the opening of the season at the Waldorf Astoria, said that the programme of the concert “was fantastic, very beautiful.” “I think that the programme is great, and it’s quite powerful; different…I think it was a really great evening without even thinking why and what and how. Just… very beautiful,” the diva said.

Maya Pritsker, the reviewer of the Russian internet portal RUNYweb.com provided an emotional response to one of the concerts in the series: “The Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra performs the Fifth and Sixth more than any other, and these are Tchaikovsky’s most famous (as it were, the most frequently played) symphonies. But in the hands of Gergiev and his team, this time they were performed better than ever before. I very much doubt I will ever hear a better interpretation of them. In any case, when, after Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony a packed Carnegie Hall was scared to breathe for a minute or so, afraid to applaud, almost paralysed by the power of what they had heard, I had no doubts – and not just speaking for myself – that this was one of the most powerful musical impressions of my life.”

From 13 October the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra will be performing at major venues in California, on 19 October it will give one concert in Seattle and then depart for Canada to perform in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.

The final concert of the tour will take place on 23 October. On 25 October St Petersburg audiences will be able to hear Daniil Trifonov and the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra under Valery Gergiev performing Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto at the Concert Hall.