Valery Joice

Immensely gifted emerging artist" (New York Times) Daniel Lozakovich has been dreaming about recording the Beethoven Violin Concerto since he was eight. He first performed it on stage when he was thirteen, and at fifteen was invited by Valery Gergiev to perform the concerto with him in Moscow. A few short years later, he has reunited with his mentor Gergiev to record the Beethoven with the Mnchner Philharmoniker for Deutsche Grammophon.

The Mariinsky label releases its second opera DVD & Blu-ray, Prokofiev’s 'The Gambler'. Filmed in the historic Mariinsky Theatre in 2010, it stars celebrated Russian tenor Vladimir Galuzin and bass Sergei Aleksashkin, and is conducted by Valery Gergiev. It is of fundamental significance that under Gergiev’s baton the Mariinsky Orchestra and opera company have performed all of Prokofiev’s symphonies, concerti and operas on numerous occasions.

Serge Rachmaninoff himself played his Third Piano Concerto in 1911 in the Netherlands with the Concertgebouworkest and Willem Mengelberg. He noted at the time: "The musicians thought it was beautiful, but the audience and the critics did not." In the end, pianist Vladimir Horowitz was able to inspire the audience for the work, and today 'Rach 3' is considered to be one of the warhorses in the repertoire. With this notoriously difficult concerto the young Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov made his dazzling Concertgebouworkest debut under the direction of Valery Gergiev.

Is Prokofiev's Scythian Suite a deliberate parody of Stravinsky's La sacra du printemps? On the basis of Valery Gergiev's recording of it, yes, it is. Gergiev's interpretation is comic and a big, brutal slapstick Stravinsky with bone-crushing percussion and brain-rattling brass, with squealing winds and skittering strings. Gergiev's rhythms in "The Enemy God" and the "Dance of the Black Spirits" have the subtlety of a pie in the face and his colors in "Night and in Procession of the Sun" have the nuance of a pratfall. Gergiev's interpretation is not only the funniest ever recorded, it is also the most accurate representation of the score and the best ever recorded.

In the original St. Petersburg version of 1862. Giuseppe Verdi’s drama of love and destiny in times of war remains one of the best–known operas by this Italian master. In the „Milan version“ of 1867, it has become an essential part of the repertoire of great opera houses, both in Europe and further afield. This DVD video recording, however, is quite distinct from the numerous other recordings currently available: the conductor Valery Gergiev has used the rarely–heard original 1862 version, composed for St. Petersburg, and containing wonderfully dramatic scenes and arias later deleted from the „Milan version“. And furthermore, the stage–set for this 1998 live recording in the Marinisiky Theatre recreates the original designs produced by Andreas Roller for the St. Petersburg premiere over 130 years ago.