Classical review: Mariinksy Orchestra/Valery Gergiev

Published on Monday 19 October 2009 19:10

THE MARIINSKY ORCHESTRA / VALERY GERGIEV ***** GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL

THE Mariinksy Orchestra is inseparably linked to the opera and ballet companies of the Mariinsky Theatre, still known to many by its Soviet moniker, the Kirov. From this fted foundation came a sensitive yet forceful performance of Henri Dutilleux's Correspondances.

Dutilleux's sparse harmonies and unhurried phrases were played with a forthright tone that gave the short pieces a primitive quality quite removed from their impressionistic forefathers. It helped that soprano Anastasia Kalagina, herself a Mariinsky soloist, seemed to have no trouble communicating even the most delicate whisper to the very back row of the hall.

Remarkable as that may have been, it was musical power of a more direct kind that most people had come to witness: Shostakovich's Symphony No 7, Leningrad, which demands huge reserves of orchestral might.

The extraordinary first movement began with elegant, dance-like motifs and expressive solos from the oboe and piccolo. Even within these superficially pleasant passages, conductor Valery Gergiev began to tease out an undercurrent of a far less comforting nature.

As the faint tapping of the metronomic side-drum began, the tension was established for a sustained crescendo over the next ten minutes. From the menacingly soft march grew layer upon layer of overpowering repetition, until the sound of an unaccompanied flute brought with it a silence that was every bit as ominous as the climax of the march itself.

An audible exhalation confirmed Gergiev had the audience sold. Almost an hour later, the hall was on its feet, recovering from a most exhilarating assault.