P.62. Salvatore Sciarrino: Chamber Music"
Sciarrino: Piano Trio No. 2. Le voci
sottovetro. Tre notturni
brillanti. Infinito
nero.
New
Juilliard Ensemble.
Joel Sachs (conductor). Paul Recital Hall, Juilliard School of Music, New
York City. Presented under the auspices of the Lincoln Center Festival
P.65.
Mazeppa One of the great
pillars of the Mariinsky repertoire, Tchaikovsky’s soaring Mazeppa depicts
the legendary 17th-century Ukrainian separatist in both his political and
romantic exploits. Taking inspiration from Pushkin’s epic poem Poltava, the
opera follows the enigmatic yet aging military leader Mazeppa as he falls in
love with Maria, the young daughter of Kochubey, a Cossack judge. Denied the
judge’s blessing to marry, Mazeppa and Maria decide to elope, an action that
compels Kochubey to reveal Mazeppa’s secret revolutionary plans—a plot to
turn the Ukraine into an independent state—to Tsar Peter the Great.
P.67.
GERGIEV: Valery Gergiev spends about
250 days a year with the Mariinsky Opera and Ballet. He has been Principal
Guest Conductor with the Metropolitan Opera since 1997, Principal Conductor
of the Rotterdam Philharmonic (one of his first openings in the West), and
has worked with most of the world’s leading orchestras. He works
increasingly with the Wiener Philharmoniker and has set up numerous
festivals, including Peace to the Caucasus, the Mikkeli in Finland, The Red
Sea in Eilat, The Kirov-Philharmonia in London, The Rotterdam
Philharmonic-Gergiev Festival, and The White Nights in St. Petersburg.
P.160-165. BEST
CDs OF THE YEAR.
Classical music.