Tours in Great Britain (November 2005)

There is always a frisson of excitement when the Russians hit town, the St Petersburg Philharmonic being no exception, offering a feast of 20th century Russian classics.
Full-blown romanticism began gradually with Rachmaninov's hauntingly familiar Vocalise. Restrained muted strings filled the hall with lovely rounded sound, the rich dark phrases eventually daring to die away to a mere whisper.
Pianist Denis Matsuev joined with orchestra and Yuri Temirkanov for Rachmaninov's Concerto no. 3 in D minor. Swimming sweetly above veiled turbulent waters, this assured artist soon emerged to overpower lesser mortals.
Essential interaction between orchestra and soloist was occasionally obscured by a formidable technique of sparkling repeated notes, hammered octaves and torrential fortissimo cascades of terrifying proportions.
A delirious audience was further treated to a spectacular transcription of Largo al Factotum by Ginzburg.

28.11.2005
Birmingham Evening Mail

PROKOFIEV - CINDERELLA SUITE NO 1;
RACHMANINOV - RHAPSODY ON A THEME OF PAGANINI;
BRAHMS - SYMPHONY NO 2

Yuri Temirkanov may not be quite as well-known to the general public as his compatriot Valery Gergiev, but he is certainly no less inspiring a musician. This Barbican concert with the St Petersburg Philharmonic (of which he has been Music Director since 1988) showed once again what a special relationship he has with the orchestra, his fluttering hands and flowing arms enthusing the players to bring warmth and zest to the music.
The Russian repertoire always suits them best, and the first of Prokofiev’s suites from his ballet Cinderella left one wanting to hear them play the whole score. The string sound in the Introduction gave a chilly background to the life of the fairytale’s protagonist, whilst the bickering of the ugly sisters was vividly portrayed. The harp glissando in the fourth movement was just one of many striking details that Temirkanov took care to bring through, and if the manic tempo of Cinderella goes to the ball somewhat eluded the xylophonist, it never marred a stirring rendition.
Cinderella’s waltz highlighted the swaying of the players’ bodies in perfect unity, a characteristic of only the greatest orchestras. And Midnight was the perfect showcase for the percussion instruments, piano and glockenspiel making an especial impact in this most vibrant of ballet scenes.
…Next up was Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini played by the young Siberian pianist Denis Matsuev. As his large physique promised, he brought heft to the music. Less expected was the yearning lyricism of the eighteenth variation, for instance, or the nimble agility of the twenty-fourth. The orchestra was sensitive but never passive; the interaction between piano and pizzicato violins in the D minor twelfth variation was characteristic of an ensemble performance. Matsuev’s magisterial contribution to the event was topped off by a flashy encore of variations on Rossini’s Largo al factotum.
..Encores by Schubert and Tchaikovsky sent us spinning into the night, after a varied programme played with exceptional style. When Temirkanov comes to conduct the LSO in May the results are guaranteed to be special.

23.11.2005
MusicOMH

Concerts at the Carnegie-Hall (New-York, USA)

The St. Petersburg Philharmonic Opens at Carnegie With Rachmaninoff
and Tchaikovsky

Yefim Bronfman was the soloist Thursday night as Yuri Temirkanov led the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto to open the Carnegie Hall season.
There were thoughts of a resident orchestra, with Carnegie Hall as a brand name. Later there were thoughts of banning rentals altogether, by even the most august of outside producers.
The idea of destination won out, and so we had, most recently, Thursday's season-opening concert by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, a Russian orchestra that, in terms of spirit and sheer mileage, stands as far away from 57th Street and Seventh Avenue as any orchestra could. Yet for the orchestra, its conductor, Yuri Temirkanov, and its colleagues around the world, Carnegie Hall is a destination of choice: where outsiders come to receive an imprimatur of international worth.
The St. Petersburg arrived with Russian Romanticism in battalion strength: big concerto, big symphony, big heart and big sleeve to rest it on. Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto came before intermission, the Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony after.
Yefim Bronfman was the pianist for the Rachmaninoff, a piece whose first movement probably holds more notes per square foot of music than any other movement I can think of. Mr. Bronfman seemed to take care of them all. This is big music made even bigger here by its performers. Tempos raced ahead and contracted, and the lyrical solo parts breathed and sighed deeply. The singing strings of the St. Petersburg made Rachmaninoff's orchestra writing sound a lot more interesting than it actually is.
Tchaikovsky must have had the sonority of an orchestra like this in mind when he wrote his symphony. The resonance seemed to well up from the floorboards of the stage. Mr. Temirkanov moved the music swiftly and athletically. Tchaikovsky wrote the world's most beautiful waltz probably 20 different times, and the third movement here is one of his best.

September 29, 2005
«New-York Times»
By Bernard Holland

The Russianest of Russian Orchestras Lands in New York

The common wisdom today is that the music director of a major orchestra wears out his or her (if there were any women) welcome after 10 or 12 years and should move on for the good of all concerned. But Yuri Temirkanov has always played by his own rules.

… Mr. Temirkanov has been at the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, which he just conducted in three concerts at Carnegie Hall, for 17 years.

… This orchestra has always prized expressiveness, depth and color over immaculate intonation and obsessive precision. …The St. Petersburg Philharmonic remains in some ways the most distinctively Russian of the great Russian orchestras.

The performance of Brahms's Second Symphony, on Saturday, was especially telling in this respect, from the dark, viscous string sound at the start to the brilliant and incisive brass playing at the end.

Those same qualities seemed of the essence in the other work on Saturday, "... al Niente" ("... Toward Nothingness"), by the Georgian composer Giya Kancheli. Much about the piece is odd, including its title, since it flirts with nothingness throughout a static first half but then gathers momentum and heft before finally trailing off. A prevailing sweetness, a curious ambling swing and traces of jazz detract little from the work's evident seriousness of purpose.

October 4, 2005
«New-York Times»
By James R. Oestreich

 

Concerts in Germany
August 2005

Eruptionen des sozialistischen Realismus - mit Absicht doppelbodig

Burghofspiele: St. Petersburger Philharmoniker im Kurhaus mit Werken
von Weber, Grieg und Schostakowitsch / Solistin Olga Kern

WIESBADEN

An Stelle der erkrankten Juri Temirkanow, war Nikolai Alexeev zu erleben, der aus St. Petersburg stammt und heute Chefdirigent des Estnischen Nationalorchesters ist. Unter seiner Leitung horte man eine zu Recht doppelbodige Wiedergabe der funften Schostakowitsch-Sinfonie. Die Eruptionen, die aus dem ganz im Sinne des sozialistischen Realismus formal lehrbuchhaft gearbeiteten Kopfsatz herausbrechen, wirkten beinahe uberdeutlich entfesselt, das Scherzo lie? Alexeev regelrecht gehetzt musizieren, uberhaupt ungeglattet mit seinen betont scharf und grell von den Blasern ausgespielten Klangfarben. Umso deutlicher wurde der Kontrast zu jenem fahlen, klagenden Largo-Gesang, den die exzellenten St. Petersburger Streicher wunderbar geschlossen bis ins au?erste Piano, in sich ruhend ausspielten - der darauf folgende Final-Jubel musste schon deshalb, wie von Schostakowitsch beabsichtigt, erzwungen, eben doppeldeutig wirken.

19.08.2005
Axel Zibulski

Concert at The United Nations
UN assembly recalls Hitler and Stalin at ceremony

By REUTERS

Filed at 0:21 a.m. ET

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations commemorated victims and victors of World War II on Monday, with speakers paying tribute to Allied sacrifices but also recalling Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's actions in eastern Europe.
The session was initiated by Russia, which also organized larger ceremonies in Moscow, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe and the subsequent founding of the United Nations. The international body was formed with a mission to ``save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.''
… Russia's U.N. ambassador, Andrei Denisov, said the war was ``the biggest tragedy for the nations of Europe and the world, regardless of which side countries were on.''
Denisov had begun the U.N. events on Saturday in the General Assembly, where Yuri Temirkanov conducted the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra in Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7, composed during the German siege of Leningrad in 1941.
Special guests were dozens of surviving beribboned Red Army veterans living in the United States….

May 10, 2005
New York Times

 

Concerts in United Kingdom
January 2005

WE THOUGHT WE MIGHT AS WELL GO FOR THE BEST', THE JOURNAL

One of the world's great orchestras begins an exclusive three-day residency in the North-East today, drawing audience members from across England and Scotland.
The St Petersburg Philharmonic was described by one national newspaper as "probably the world's greatest orchestra". But if you want to see its 117 musicians in action this week, conducted by Yuri Temirkanov, you will have to travel to The Sage Gateshead.
Simon Clugston, performance programme director at the Sage, said last night: "This is a huge event and we are so pleased that they are the first visiting orchestra in the hall.
"The St Petersburg Philharmonic, which was previously the Leningrad Philharmonic, is the great Russian orchestra. We have always known that there's a real interest in this area for Russian music played by Russian orchestras. We knew we were going to open a new hall so we thought we might as well go for the best."
The orchestra, which was the first to perform many works by Shostakovich and Prokofiev, flew in yesterday and will leave after its third concert on Friday night. "This is absolutely exclusive to The Sage Gateshead," said Mr Clugston.
He said the first approach was made two years ago but he hoped this would be the start of a lasting relationship between the orchestra and the new North-East concert venue. This made sense, he suggested, because both places were almost on the same latitude. Each of the three evening concerts in the Sage's Hall One features one of the great ballets by Stravinsky: Petrushka tonight, The Firebird tomorrow and The Rite Of Spring on Friday.
Each programme also features pieces by Rachmaninov, adding up to what Mr Clugston called "some of the most fantastic Russian repertoire there is".
He said The Rite Of Spring in particular was "a very big piece" and so not often performed.
Of conductor Temirkanov, the former professional cellist said: "I actually played for him once. He made quite a reputation for himself in the early 1980s in this country. He is absolutely of the Russian school of conductors, immensely innovative."

19.01.2005
THE JOURNAL (Newcastle, UK)

RACHMANINOV RATTLES SOME RIBS

The St Petersburg Philharmonic's visits to these shores are as brief as the Russian summer and as long in coming. Who, barely a year ago, would have anticipated that Yuri Temirkanov's world-class ensemble would play an exclusive, sold-out, three-day residence in Gateshead?
This was the first visit of an international orchestra to the Sage, and also the first time the chamber-sized platform had to swell to accommodate a symphonic lineup. Though clearly a bit of a squeeze, the hall's tight, singing acoustic coped admirably, saturating the audience with reverberant sound of almost physical immediacy.
The intimacy was further enhanced by the fact that there is probably no orchestra in the world so adept at playing barely above a whisper. The opening strains of Rachmaninov's Vocalise seemed not to begin on a downbeat so much as become delicately teased from the ether. And principal violinist Lev Klychkov's silky statement of the theme drew little gasps from the audience that were almost sufficient to drown it.
The benefit of such subtle, dynamic control is that the fortes strike with the force of an explosion. The concluding passages of Dmitri Alexeev's rampaging Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto no 2 rattled around the ribcage; while the rhythmic savagery of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring made the walls throb.
It is hard to pinpoint precisely what makes the St Petersburg Philharmonic so distinct from a European ensemble. It is partly to do with the instrumentalists' ability to merge into a fluid mass of energy, like a shoal of fish. Yet there is an intangible quality to the sound they make, particularly in the core Slavonic repertoire, which the Russians call dusha and we approximately term as soul.
The extraordinary Russian invasion of Gateshead gave Tynesiders an opportunity to experience some of the sweetest soul music ever made.

24.01.2004
The Guardian (London)

BRIDGE BOWS TO SUPER ORCHESTRA

Musicians from one of the world's top orchestras celebrated their first visit to Tyneside by having The Gateshead Millennium Bridge tilted in their honour.
Russia's St Petersburg Philharmonic completed a three concert-run at The Sage Gateshead last night for what is hoped will be the start of a lasting relationship with the new concert venue.
The 117 musicians were treated to a special tilt of the world famous bridge.
Yuri Temirkanov, principal conductor of the orchestra, was also presented with a friendship cup, known as a quaiche, by Gateshead's Mayor, Coun Pat Ronan, to commemorate the visit.
Gateshead Council Leader Coun Mick Henry, who attended the tilting with Sage director Anthony Sargent, said: "We are honoured an orchestra of this standing would come to perform here. It is a great endorsement of the Sage. I have been emotionally touched by their performances."

22.01.2005
EVENING CHRONICLE (Newcastle, UK)

In something of a coup, and a little over a month into its existence, the Sage in Gateshead is hosting a brief but exclusive UK residency by one of Europe's leading orchestras, the StPetersburg Philharmonic. Over three concerts in the new main hall, the world-renowned ensemble and its music director
Yuri Temirkanov are presenting Stravinsky's most popular ballet scores coupled with the music of Rachmaninov.
Beginning with Petrushka, the orchestra took a little time to find its feet, with a slightly uneven balance and the odd misjudged entry. Perhaps it was still acclimatising to the unforgiving glare of the new concert hall's superb clarity, which came into its own in Stravinsky's more chamber-scale passages.
There was plenty of gentle humour in Temirkanov's shaping of the various solos - especially the puppet-master's flute endowing Petrushka with life - though he spoilt things somewhat by opting for the rarely heard loud concert ending that Stravinsky added as an option in his 1947 revision of the work. It deprived us of the pathos in the more usual fading away to nothingness - though in all truth its pale and deathly conclusion would probably have been destroyed by this particular cough-ridden audience.
In a hall of such a human scale as the Sage, seating 1,700 (a little under half the capacity of the Festival Hall, for example), there was a worry that a work as massive as Rachmaninov's Second Symphony might have overwhelmed the space. It did overwhelm, but the senses rather than the acoustic, though the latter lent its own focus on the wonderful warmth and richness of the strings, right from the double basses at the very start.
Apart from a hesitant moment or two in the first movement's recapitulation, the orchestra expertly steered its way through the music's ebbs and flows, with the passion and energy driven as much by the depth of its inherently flexible tone colouring as by propulsion. Highlights included the famous clarinet solo at the start of the slow movement, its rubato perfectly shaped, together with the tiny quickenings of pace as the glorious melody rises to the movement's main climax.
It was a performance hard to follow but, facing a standing ovation, the orchestra responded with two numbers as encores, crystalline and ardent in turn, from Tchaikovsky ballets. This was music for which the warm and responsive Sage acoustic seems to be made - though tonight's Rite of Spring should be worth travelling far to hear, too.

21.01.2005
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (London)

ST PETERSBURG EARN ENCORES, THOMAS HALL

The St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra at The Sage Gateshead - In the second of its three-concert run at The Sage, the St Petersburg gave its Tyneside audience another demonstration of why it is ranked among the world's top orchestras.
Placed in the concert hall, away from its dance context, Stravinsky's The Fairy Kiss becomes, in effect, a programmatic piece, illustrating Hans Christian Anderson's The Ice Maiden. The musical style, however, is a tribute to an earlier Russian master, Tchaikovsky his songs and piano pieces. It sat well alongside the 1919 version of Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite, both giving music director and principal conductor Yuri Temirkanov the chance to show off the playing of his magnificent orchestra.
Rachmaninov held his last major orchestral work, the Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, written in 1940, to be among his best. With less of Stravinsky's penchant for novelty, the three sections gave a superb performance, easily winning the St Petersburg its resounding encores.

21.01.2005
THE JOURNAL (Newcastle, UK)