The Mariinsky Theatre record label is five years old! The label was founded on the day when the first audio recording – Dmitri Shostakovich opera The Nose performed by Mariinsky soloists, Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev – was released.
Over the past five years 24 discs have been released including 19 audio recordings and 5 video recordings. The recordings are released in modern formats SACD (for audio), DVD and Blu-Ray (for video) and contain descriptions of the music and the performers. All recordings are also available in digital format in the iTunes store. On Monday, June 2 the Mariinsky label will release its 25th CD containing Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos 4, 5 and 6 played by the Mariinsky Orchestra under maestro Valery Gergiev.
Mariinsky label releases include records of operas created by Russian and Western European composers with the Mariinsky Theatre soloists and the leading opera singers of our time such as The Nose by Dmitri Shostakovich, The Enchanted Wanderer by Rodion Shchedrin, Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti (featuring soprano Natalie Dessay and tenor Piotr Beczala), Don Quixote by Jules Massenet (featuring bass Ferrucio Furlanetto), Parsifal by Richard Wagner (featuring tenor Gary Lehman, bass-baritone René Pape and soprano Violeta Urmana), as well as video recordings of operas Attila by Giuseppe Verdi The Gambler by Sergei Prokofiev and Die Frau ohne Schatten by Richard Strauss. A CD with Igor Stravinsky's works Les Noces and Oedipus Rex featured actor Gerard Depardieu as a narrator.
The discography also includes video recordings of George Balanchine ballet Jewels (with Ulyana Lopatkina, Igor Zelensky and Andrian Fadeyev) and Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos 4, 5 and 6 recorded in Salle Pleyel, Paris. Another disc comprises 1812 Overture, Moscow cantata and several marches by Tchaikovsky.
Pianist Denis Matsuev recorded for Mariinsky label piano concertos by Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Shchedrin, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev. Another CD contains Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 and other piano music performed by Daniil Trifonov.
Among the most important current projects of the label is the complete recording of Richard Wagner's tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen. So far two operas have been released: Das Rheingold (featuring bass-baritone René Pape, tenor Stephan Rügamer and mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova) and Die Walkure (featuring soprano Nina Stemme, bass-baritone René Pape, tenor Jonas Kaufmann, soprano Anja Kampe and mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova).
Another remarkable special project of the label is a full Shostakovich symphony cycle. So far Symphonies Nos 1 and 15, 2 and 11, 3 and 10, 7 and 8 have been released, whereas another CD containing Symphonies Nos 4, 5 and 6 will come out next week
During the five years of its existence, the Mariinsky label has been awarded with many prestigious prizes and has won critical acclaim by music experts and special media. In 2010 The Nose, the first CD released by the label, won MIDEM Classical Awards, and was also among the top 10 records of 2009 according to the Washington Post. This disc as well as the recordings of Shostakovich Symphonies Nos 1 and 15 which followed it got record five nominations for Grammy Awards 2010. In the same year also nominated for Grammy were recording of Rodion Shchedrin’s The Enchanted Wanderer (as "Best Opera" and "“Best Work by a Contemporary Classical Composer") and Parsifal with René Pape as Gurnemanz which was also recognized as "Disc of the Month" by BBC Music Magazine and was the Editor's Choice of Gramophone (UK). In 2011, the Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos 4, 5 and 6, the first disc released by label in both DVD and Blue-Ray, was awarded with Choc de L'année by Classica (France).
Thanks to the excellent soloists and "the first-class playing of the Mariinsky Orchestra » (BBC Radio 3 CD Review) conducted by Valery Gergiev, the first two parts of Wagner's cycle which were released last year by Mariinsky label, immediately won wide acclaim of both audience and critics. Die Walkure, the first part of the cycle, won Diapason d'Or Diapason (France), the Opera Diamond award and five stars from Audiophile Audition magazine as well as the most prestigious German classical music award, Echo Klassik Opera Recording of the Year. Das Rheingold recorder by Mariinsky label was awarded the Choc de L'année by Classica (France).
This year, the recording of The Gambler by Prokofiev received International Classical Music Awards, a major international award in the field of classical music. Recording of Tchaikovsky Piano Concertos Nos 1 and 2 which came out this February, became Gramophone Record of the Month (UK), and the CD with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 3 and Symphony No 5, released on March 10, 2014 also was named Classical CD Choice CD of the Month by British classical music portal Classical CD Choice.
On the occasion of the label anniversary, a special audio album is available in iTunes. It comprises 11 soundtracks from different Mariinsky recordings. The price of the whole album is 69 rubles, whereas each track can be bought individually for 15 rubles
Also on the occasion of release of the 25th CD of the label, which continues Shostakovich symphony cycle, the cost of the five previous discs with Shostakovich symphonies (Nos 1 and 15, 2 and 11, 3 and 10, No 7 and No 8) is reduced by 20%. The offer is valid until the end of June when buying discs on the label official website.
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