Mariinsky Orchestra/Gergiev
Mariinsky Orchestra/Gergiev
Prokofiev: Symphony No 5/ Piano Concerto No 3
(Mariinsky Label)
Some time ago I reviewed a disc by the Mariinsky Orchestra with Valery Gergiev, and expressed doubt about the quality of what I heard. This was sacrilege: for many music fans, Gergiev is a god-like figure among conductors. But I have the same sense of unease on listening to the latest issue from the team. The surfaces of Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto and Fifth Symphony are polished and gleaming: no-one could charge the Mariinsky Orchestra with anything less. But there is a lack of perspective in the reading, a lack of depth and variety in the colouring, and while there is great power and clarity in Denis Matsuev's playing of the concerto, the whole thing is a bit flash. It doesn't feel as if it has been carefully thought through; rather more that it was chucked together. This all needs to be discussed later in a broader consideration: there is a tonne of new Prokofiev recordings out, some of them really important. However, I'm not convinced this is one of them.
Michael Tumelty
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article