Romeo and Juliet enchants Spain

Maria Shirinkina and Vladimir Shklyarov
in the ballet Romeo and Juliet

The performances, which took place between 10 and 13 December at the end of the crossover Year of Russia and Spain, were commented on by the leading Spanish media. The concerts and performances proved a veritable sensation with Spanish audiences, with tickets being sold out long before the tour began.

El País referred to Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet with choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky, performed at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía on 10 December, stating that it was “the finest ballet production seen in Spain this year” and commenting on the “brilliant performance” by the Mariinsky Ballet Company. Roger Salas wrote that “Valery Gergiev procures a triumphant sound from this multifaceted artistic canvas, not missing a single tiny detail and at the same time retaining the general symphonic integrity of the work.” With regard to the soloists of the “holy grail of Russian ballet”, the critic believed that as Juliet Maria Shirinkina “displays a unique flexibility vital to the on-stage embodiment of the ideal image typical of 20^th century neo-romantic ballet.” Vladimir Shklyarov’s Romeo was “magnificent” and he was a “musical, lively and attentive partner, ideally suited for the on-stage portrayal of the ardent fatalist.” He was “ready to taste the sweet fruit of temptation, executing dizzying leaps and passionate rapture and despair… With his virtuoso pas he expresses the full depth of the tragic nature of Prokofiev’s music.”

El Mundo gave the performance its highest rating of five stars. For Rodrigo Madrid, apart from the choreography it was an “unforgettable opportunity to enjoy the music” of the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev. “The enchanting theme of Juliet in the tense framework of sound, the sinister dance of the suitors perfectly matched the magnificent variations conceived by Prokofiev in an insistently prolonged largo tempo.”

Levante newspaper compared watching the performance by the Mariinsky Ballet Company to the an excursion to the Prado museum, the audience unexpectedly “travelling back in time.” Enrique Herreras called the performance a stunning “reconstruction, one that can only be produced by those who have preserved traditions from one generation to the next.” Romeo “made an indelible impression” on the critic, who went on to emphasise the “impeccable precision of the movements” in the duet of Maria Shirinkina and Vladimir Shklyarov. “It is hard to break down the harmony of the whole, part of which was the magnificent orchestra under the sensitive hands of Valery Gergiev, who carefully followed each movement of the dancers on-stage who in turn attentively followed the music.”

In her review for Valencia entitled Between Love and Death critic Ana Galiano gave the performance of Hector Berlioz’ Roméo et Juliette symphonie dramatique five stars. This concert at the Palau de les Arts of Valencia on 8 December featured the Orquestas Sinfónica of Valencia under the baton of maestro Gergiev, the chorus of the Generalitat and Mariinsky Theatre soloists. According to Galiano, there are three conductors famed for their unique readings of this work – Sir Colin Davis, Lorin Maazel and Valery Gergiev, the latter’s interpretation appearing to be “the most dynamic” in the critic’s opinion. Gergiev “achieves a truly energetic and theatrical reading in the passage Grande fête chez Capulet,” and “skilfully combining the passionate impulses with tragedy-filled narrative in Convoi funèbre de Juliette,” while the “Scène d’amour was inimitable in terms of its expressiveness.”

Levante wrote of the “magnificence of the conductor” who “succeeded in getting the musicians to give their all.” Alfredo Brotons Muñoz wrote that “A performance of this work by Hector Berlioz would create much less of an impression if, at the conductor’s stand, it was not Valery Gergiev, a star of international importance who was able to produce an incredibly romantic and almost poetic reading, but some other conductor instead.” The critic paid tribute to the skills of “such talented singers” as Ekaterina Gubanova, Kenneth Tarver and Mikhail Petrenko.

In a review for El País Rosa Solà noted that “Mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova’s performance was tender and expressive.” Moreover, the critic also picked out Mikhail Petrenko who was faced with the highly demanding bass role, saying that “At the tragic culmination his voice has to be heard against the background of the chorus and the orchestra, and Mikhail Petrenko accomplished this task beautifully.”

In Las Provincias César Rus was delighted with Valery Gergiev, “who reminded the Spanish that the orchestra of Valencia was the best in Spain.” “When the Russian conductor’s baton begins to move and good orchestra will start to perform in Gergiev’s unique fashion – impetuously and yet responsive to his demands. It is this almost magical quality that makes him one of the greatest conductors of our time.”

During the tour maestro Gergiev also conducted the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in performances of works by Igor Stravinsky at the Auditori concert hall in Barcelona, while a concert programme performed at the Teatro Real in Madrid included Modest Musorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death as well as works by Stravinsky.