NEW YORK, October 30. /TASS/. The Symphony Orchestra of Russia’s Mariinsky Theater under the baton of Valery Gergiev is triumphantly touring the United States, with concert halls packed to capacity and US media describing the orchestra from St. Petersburg as one of the best in the world. The musicians are expected to give a total of 12 concerts during their tour, which began on October 20 and will last until November 3, Anna Kasatkina, a spokesperson for the Mariinsky Theater, told TASS on Tuesday.
"This is a major and important tour, during which the orchestra will perform Shostakovich’s legendary Symphony No.7, music by Brahms, Richard Strauss, and, of course, quite a few works by Russian composers - Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov," she quoted Gergiev as saying. "Denis Matsuev and Nelson Freire, legendary Brazilian pianist, perform with us as well." Besides, members of the Mariinsky Theater’s Ballet Company will take part in the George Balanchine festival in New York City Center, which will be held from October 31 to November 4.
Nothing but delight
The orchestra earlier performed in Costa Mesa and San Francisco (California), and on October 23, Valery Gergiev conducted the orchestra of the Colburn School in Los Angeles. The next day, the maestro directed two orchestras at the Jacobs Music Center in San Diego, performing music by several Russian composers, including Shostakovich’s Symphony No.7 ("Leningrad").
The San Diego Union Tribune wrote commenting on the concert, "Gergiev’s idiosyncratic conducting (sometimes leading, sometimes following, always generating an electric pulse between himself and the players) urged them to a deeply colored texture that we hear too little in other concerts. And that brings us to Shostakovich. Is it a masterpiece? Yes."
The final concert in California took place on October 25 in Northridge, where the Mariinsky Orchestra performed a monographic program dedicated to Igor Stravinsky. Well-known US music critic Mark Swed noted in the Los Angeles Times that "Gergiev encouraged his players to produce exaggeratedly expressive solos, the kind he needs for, say, Dmitri Shostakovich and the kind Stravinsky adamantly did not want." "But once you hear them wow. You know where they come from, and these scores take on another life. This really is the same composer who wrote "Firebird" and "Rite of Spring." Old wine has matured but defiantly not mellowed in new bottles," he wrote.
One of the greatest orchestras
On October 28-29, the musicians performed in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Kansas City, Missouri. The Lincoln Journal Star wrote after the concert, "And what a sound it was. Exquisitely played by some of Russia’s best musicians, the sound was warm, yet clear, delicate and full, precise and unified - a great orchestra fulfilling the vision of its conductor and the composers." According to the newspaper, the performance "confirmed the Mariinsky is indeed one of the world’s greatest orchestras."
According to Anna Kasatkina, the culmination of the tour will be a concert at the legendary Carnegie Hall in New York City, where music from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker ballet will be performed. On November 1, the Mariinsky Orchestra will perform there A Hero’s Life tone poem by Richard Strauss and Piano Concerto No.2 by Johannes Brahms.
A similar program is scheduled for the next day at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts. The Mariinsky Orchestra’s final concert will take place in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on November 3, with Denis Matsuev performing solo.