The final concert of the Mariinsky Theatre’s UK tour under
Valery Gergiev took place on 18 October at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall.
The Mariinsky Theatre’s ten-day tour to Great Britain has
come to a close. During the tour, Valery Gergiev conducted the theatre’s
operatic weekend with outstanding bass baritone Bryn Terfel to mark five years since the inception of the
Wales Millennium Centre. The theatre’s Orchestra and Chorus then went on to
perform in Birmingham with Hector Berlioz’ Requiem together with the City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. The orchestra subsequently appeared at the
Belfast Festival at Queen’s, performing Dmitry Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony and Henri Dutilleux’
Correspondances.
Reviewing the tour’s concerts, Cardiff’s
Western Mail reporter was generous with his praise: “Take a combination
of the finest baritone on the planet and one of the greatest conductors anywhere
and the result is a musical explosion like you have never
heard.”
Opera Britannia’s reporter: “The
world-famous Mariinsky Orchestra were on superlative form and produced some of
the most meticulously precise playing I have ever experienced, particularly from
the string section who really did sound as one. […] The Hungarian march from
Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust was also executed with flawless precision and
stylish flair and the third orchestral piece – Verdi’s overture from La forza
del destino – was superbly agitated and suitably full of drama.
Among
the Mariinsky soloists it was the young Russian baritone Alexei Markov who undoubtedly made the biggest impression with
his warm, velvet-like timbre and beautifully rich legato phrasing. Close your
eyes and you could almost be listening to a young Dmitri Hvorostovsky. He
started the programme with a gloriously sung rendition of Gryaznoi’s aria from
Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride and also closed the first
half with the final scene from Eugene Onegin; a moving and intelligently sung
portrayal – the perfect combination of passion and remorse.
Joining
Markov as his Tatiana was the soprano Viktoria Yastrebova, who was wonderfully expressive and
executed a stunning diminuendo on the high A flat as she finally admitted her
love for Onegin "Akh, ya vas lyublyoo!"
… I really enjoyed bass Sergei Alexashkin’s version of The Old Gypsy’s Tale from
Rakhmaninov’s opera Aleko, followed by tenor Sergei Skorokhodov singing The Young Gypsy’s Romance from the
same opera. Skorokhodov’s graceful tenor with its delightfully elegant high
notes makes for very pleasant listening indeed. He later returned to the stage
as Edgardo in the duet "Sulla tomba che rinserra" from Lucia di Lammermoor,
partnered by the very promising young soprano Zhanna Dombrovskaya, who possesses an attractive,
crystal-clear tone which cut through the orchestra with ease.
The
Ride of the Valkyries was sung with a great deal of energy, if not a lot of
subtlety by a very strong ensemble. Among the Valkyries, soprano Zhanna
Dombravskaya (who had sung Lucia in the first half) displayed some thrilling,
piercing high notes as Gerhilde, while Tatiana Kravtsova was an impressively
powerful Helmwige.
The role of the tragic Sieglinde was taken by
Moscow-born soprano Mlada Khudolei, who had also sung this part in the recent
Mariinsky Ring cycle at Covent Garden this summer. Khudolei’s dark-timbred
soprano has a full-bodied richness, together with some beautifully burnished
colouring in the lower register. Her ecstatic outburst "O hehrstes Wunder!" was
truly radiant…”
South Wales Argus’ reporter:
“The
first half of the concert abounded in the wonderful Russian voices. Sergei Alexashkin and tenor Sergei Skorokhodov in extracts from Rakhmaninov’s Aleko
typified voices that tap hidden soulful resources, and Alexei Markov and Viktoria Yastrebova in the painful final scene from TCHAIKOVSKY’s Eugene Onegin could not have been more at
home.”
South Wales Argus’ reporter on Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem:
“This weekend reminded us that St
Petersburg’s Mariinsky, Russia’s oldest music theatre, boasts singers of
majestic accomplishment but it has also progressed with the impetus of an
opera.
Gergiev’s ability to begin in hushed tones and end in music
that seemed to tap the same spiritual source was the mark of
genius.
He was served well. Soprano Viktoria Yastrebova, mezzo YEkaterina Gubanova, tenor Sergei Semishkur and – standard-bearing for the Welsh hosts –
bass Bryn Terfel could not have been bettered as both a unit and as
individuals absorbed in moments of private anguish and supplication.”