“Few can rival Valery Gergiev's pedigree in Prokofiev's music, and he is palpably aware of how this score works in the theatre. His pacing of events is masterly, with plenty of verve and passion… what really impresses… is the tenderness and poetry that are so often overlooked in Prokofiev, and not just in the love music. Gergiev frequently lets the strings and solo woodwind linger in a beguiling, natural rubato, whilst maintaining an architectural grasp of the tragic whole.” --BBC Music Magazine, February 2010 *****
BBC Music Magazine Awards 2011 - Disc of the Year & Orchestral Award Winner
Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice - March 2010
BBC Music Magazine Awards 2011 - Disc of the Year & Orchestral Award Winner
Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice - March 2010
LSO Live celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2010. The label's first release of the year features Prokofiev's spectacular score for the ballet Romeo & Juliet conducted by Valery Gergiev. Gergiev is a tireless champion of Prokofiev's music. In 2004 he conducted the complete cycle of the composer's symphonies with the LSO which then won a Gramophone Award. Shortly afterwards Gergiev became Principal Conductor of the LSO and spent much of 2008 and 2009 touring Prokofiev's symphonies with the orchestra in Europe, Japan and the USA. Gergiev's Mahler cycle continues in February 2010 with the release of the Fourth Symphony. Other upcoming releases on LSO Live include a Rachmaninov symphony cycle as well as music by Ravel, Stravinsky, Debussy and Strauss.
“Gergiev is in his element and not just in moments of gritty angularity or romantic excess. The lighter numbers, sometimes taken more spaciously than usual, are equally memorable.” --Gramophone, March 2010
