Gergiev

Gustav Mahler - Symphony No.6 "The Tragic"
Valery Gergiev / London Symphony Orchestra
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 3,89 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 1,21 GB | Full Artwork
Label/Cat#: LSO Live # LSO0661 | Country/Year: UK 2008 | 5% Recovery Info
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Symphonic

"…It would be impossible for any single recording of this towering masterpiece ever to be considered definitive, or appeal to all tastes, but this searing performance, with the LSO in phenomenal form, should be heard by all who love Mahler’s’ music." ~SA-CD.net

The first releases from the Munich Philharmonic’s own recording label feature sensational performances of works by two composers with whom the orchestra is closely associated: Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4.
The recording of Mahler’s Second Symphony was made during the opening concerts of Valery Gergiev’s first season as Music Director of the Munich Philharmonic. Since first coming to prominence after winning the Karajan Conducting Competition at the age of 24, Gergiev has established himself as one of the world’s great conductors and communicators on the value and role of music in today’s society.

Valery Gergiev's commitment to late Romantic music has yielded impressive recordings of orchestral works by Anton Bruckner, Richard Strauss, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, and especially Gustav Mahler, whose symphonies received an impressive audiophile cycle from Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra on the LSO Live label. Gergiev appears to have embarked on yet another Mahler series, this time with the Munich Philharmonic, starting in 2016 with a stirring account of the Symphony No. 2 in C minor, "Resurrection," and followed by this 2017 release of the Symphony No. 4 in G major.

Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra celebrate Mussorgsky with the release of two of his most cherished works, 'Pictures at an Exhibition' and 'Night on a Bare Mountain' (performed here in Mussorgsky’s original version). Gergiev is at his finest conducting these paragons of Mussorgsky’s work, featured alongside which are the seldom heard 'Songs and Dances of Death', composed during the years 1875 to 1877 and left languishing unpublished during the composer’s lifetime. One of Mussorgsky’s most powerful compositions, each song deals with death in a poetic manner reflecting experiences not uncommon in 19th century Russia: child death, death in youth, drunken misadventure and war.

This 2008 live recording with the London Symphony Orchestra is Valery Gergiev's 2nd complete recording of Prokofiev's ballet Romeo & Juliet, the 1st being a 1991 Philips release with the Kirov Orchestra. This performance, like his 1st, is notable for its refinement & lyricism. It's perhaps surprising that Gergiev, known for the wildness & ferocity of his performances of other Prokofiev works, like The Fiery Angel, shows such restraint here. Gergiev clearly understands the ballet as a work in which Prokofiev, writing originally for the Bolshoi, a theater known for its conservatism (although that production was canceled), tailored his score to follow in the tradition of the 3 great Tchaikovsky ballets.