ArtHaus Musik has recorded a Shostakovich cycle conducted by maestro Gergiev

The German company ArtHaus Musik has released a recording of all of Shostakovich’s symphonies and instrumental concerti featuring the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev. The recording features videos of eight concerts that took place at the Salle Pleyel in Paris in the 2013–2014 season.

In addition to the Mariinsky Orchestra, the concerts saw the participation of cellists Mario Brunello (Cello Concerto No 2) and Gautier Capuçon (Cello Concerto No 1), pianists Denis Matsuev (Piano Concerto No 2) and Daniil Trifonov (Piano Concerto No 1), violinists Alena Bayeva (Violin Concerto No 2) and Vadim Repin (Violin Concerto No 1), soprano Veronika Dzhioeva (Symphony No 14), bass Mikhail Petrenko (Symphonies Nos 13 and 14) and the Mariinsky Chorus (Symphonies Nos 2, 3 and 13). The release also includes a documentary film about Shostakovich’s music and a collation of video interviews with maestro Gergiev in which he speaks about each of the fifteen symphonies and each of the six instrumental concerti. The disc box comes with annotations for the works. This project was brought about through the combined efforts of the Mariinsky Theatre, ArtHaus Musik, the Cité de la musique (which produces concerts at the Salle Pleyel), Mezzo TV and the companies Telmondis and AMPVISUALTV with the participation of French TV.

The works of Shostakovich occupy a special position in Valery Gergiev’s repertoire. Together with the Mariinsky Orchestra and other ensembles the maestro has presented the complete Shostakovich symphonies in Vienna, London, Munich, New York and St Petersburg; he has also conducted several of these symphonies individually at dozens of venues throughout the world. For several years the Mariinsky label has been running the All Shostakovich Symphonies project. Currently it has released recordings of Symphonies Nos 1–11 and 15, as well as Violin Concerto No 1 (with soloist Leonidas Kavakos) and Piano Concerti Nos 1 and 2 (with soloist Denis Matsuev). All of these recordings were produced at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre

The video recording of the Paris cycle of Shostakovich’s symphonies and concerti is available on four discs in the format Blu-ray: http://vk.cc/3M8RFO or eight discs in DVD format: http://vk.cc/3M8RRZ. Both sets are also available at the theatre’s kiosks.