Concerts in Paris and Toulouse

The Mariinsky Theatre’s touring schedule for 2013 began with a visit to France (7–9 January), during which the Mariinsky Orchestra and Chorus presented three concerts of music by Dmitry Shostakovich under the baton of maestro Gergiev at the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the Halle aux Grains in Toulouse. The Salle Pleyel saw the start of a series of works by Shostakovich due to run for two years, the programmes to include all of this great 20^th century composer’s symphonies and instrumental concerti.
On 8 January at the official residence of Alexander Konstantinovich Orlov, the Russian Ambassador in Paris, Valery Gergiev met the French press to speak of the Mariinsky Theatre’s coming plans and the new stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, due to open in May this year.

Columnist Ariane Bavelier of major French newspaper Le Figaro said of the results of the meeting that “The new opera house will open in early May 2013, the final design having been produced by Canadian architects Diamond Schmitt and the acoustics firm Müller-BBM, including a metal roof and glass canopy as well as glass facades thanks to which the building will be a source of light during the long winter nights in St Petersburg. The building will be opened over three days with a gala night on 2 May, a ballet on 3 May and an opera on 4 May. The project has been funded entirely by the federal government unlike the Mariinsky-3, the concert hall which opened in 2006 on Gergiev’s initiative and which was funded purely by donations from sponsors across the globe. “Over the twenty-five years that I have directed the Mariinsky Theatre, it was the construction of this concert hall of which I am most proud. Emperor Alexander II built the Mariinsky Theatre in 1860. And I built the concert hall!” Valery Gergiev commented.

The concerts in Paris and Toulouse proved a great success: “[…] Valery Gergiev who has directed the Mariinsky Orchestra since 1988 has formed an original sound style that combines the vivid colours of the strings and the brass sections (the latter in particular), with their impetuous and unrestrained surges in the Russian manner and a warmer sound from the woodwind thanks to the experience he has gained from conducting another of his orchestras – the London Symphony. This unique combination has been polished on extensive tours that have encompassed the entire symphony music legacy of Mahler, Shostakovich and Prokofiev. These odysseys have resulted in the formation of an excellent team, while Gergiev’s charisma has taken care of everything else.
“What strikes you immediately with Gergiev’s performances is the energy, concentration and discipline he conveys to his orchestra, and particularly the artistic freedom in his vision of Shostakovich. He doesn’t just conduct these works, he creates them anew from the heart-rending sweep and deep sense of grief that flows through Shostakovich’s music. For Gergiev, Shostakovich is not just a Russian composer inextricably linked with St Petersburg, but also a witness to the tragedy of his age, the tragedy that almost killed him too. “Interestingly, in Shostakovich Gergiev sees music of hope. This seems to be a paradox as the forced optimism that appears, for example, in the finale of the Tenth Symphony seems to be nothing more than irony – and why not? At the same time, in the longer episodes of hopeless despair or furious exclamations from the orchestra Gergiev supported the fantastic tension.
But it is in the vast Tenth Symphony that Gergiev’s interpretation has scaled great heights of emotion and drama. Gergiev knows how to achieve unusual effects of orchestral power and lightness. He can convey, often using lightning tempi, the passionate and despairing character of this music.
“At the end of this unforgettable concert which included such beautiful interpretations of the symphonies Gergiev gave us a magnificent rendition of the introduction to Lohengrin, reminding us that he is also a great Wagnerian.”
Gil Pressnitzer. Blog.Culture31, 10 January 2013

“ […] Forty years of [Shostakovich’s] musical creativity have found expression in every instrument of this orchestra, brilliant in terms of technical precision and in terms of the rich vocal palette. Conducting without a baton, Valery Gergiev was restrained in his gestures, but he held demonic power. The drama with which he filled the Tenth Symphony was congenial to this magnificent and tragic score. The performance of the solo in the concert by young nineteen-year-old French cellist Edgar Moreau was a revelation. It was an unforgettable concert.”
Anne-Marie Chouchan. Gergiev’s Sublime Shostakovich, La Depeche. 10 January 2013