Recorded at Salle Pleyel , Paris – 25, 26 & 29 January 2010Valery Gergiev is widely recognised as the greatest modern interpreter of Tchaikovsky’s music and the Mariinsky holds a peerless reputation in the repertoire. Together they deliver definitive interpretations of Tchaikovsky’s most popular symphonies. These acclaimed performances were filmed at Salle Pleyel in Paris during January 2010, directed by Andy Sommer.
The themes of fate and death pervade Tchaikovsky’s final symphonies. The composition of the Fourth Symphony coincided with the breakdown of Tchaikovsky’s marriage and a failed suicide attempt, yet he considered it to be his greatest. In contrast he believed his Fifth to be flawed and uninviting, yet today this heartfelt work is widely regarded as one of his finest. The subject of fate is further instilled in the Sixth Symphony, premiered shortly before Tchaikovsky’s death. It was posthumously entitled ‘Pathétique’ by his brother and is a deeply melancholic work, full of dynamic extremes and an inherent sense of finality.
Additional bonus features interview with Valery Gergiev.
“Tchaikovsky's last three symphonies are familiar to the Mariinsky Orchestra and their conductor Valery Gergiev, so one can expect their performances of them to be immaculate. Not a note is out of place, even in the most desperate and hectic passages of these performances...Yet the overall impression is of a paradoxical combination of coolness and hysteria.” BBC Music Magazine
“Gergiev unusually conducts with a baton and creates performances that are both well contoured and emotionally charged. The camera catches all his characteristic poses and photo-frames the pizzicato workings of the Fourth Symphony’s third movement in welcome detail. The Mariinsky musicians have played this repertoire so often that they could probably do it in their sleep, but there’s no sense of routine.” Financial Times
