I own his recordings of Scriabin's symphonies with the LSO. The Poeam of Ecstasy is one of the greatest recordings I have ever heard... but it has one flaw: if you have really good speakers you can hear his f*cking grunting and humming 🤦♂️
Actually, every single serious conductor SHOULD. Because musicians are not idiots, they know the times, they study the music. But they don't all have the same feeling for it, that is why the director should be more expressive, and less square. The director must express, and not just follow the 1,2,3,4 of a piece.
@@cog592 by your words it shows you know shit about music, specifically the job of the conductor; if you have seen V. Gergiev conducting you should know that he does not conduct like this ! he was expressing his interpretation of this dramatic work of music and communicating his analysis and interpretation for educational purposes.
Just come home from being conducted by Mr Gergiev as part of a choir in Mahler's 2nd.. so grateful to have had this opportunity to be thrown around by his flailing arms with LIQUID hands and be grunted at by this insane animal for an entire symphony in front of 3000 people. A memorable evening indeed!
@@blackkeys00 Indeed it was, thanks for the reminder! I'd say the most unusual aspect to get used to is that his conducting is almost entirely about character rather than rhythm. Most conductors tell you when to come in with clear entry points - with Gergiev, you're assumed to know exactly when to do your part (keep your own timing!) his indications are only about HOW to do do your part.. nerve wracking !!
I am going to give him the biggest complement as an orchestral musician as i can. If I was in his orchestra I would know exactly what he wants, how he wants it and when he want's it. A real players conductor. His eye contact and hand cues to the orchestra are the best.
That's not exactly what I heard on the grapevine during his time at the LSO. The things I heard were that he was highly mercurial. He could be incredibly inspiring at times, but too often he just wasn't there & the orchestra, certainly some of them, struggled to form a bond with him and to understand his gestures, others rehearsed his stuff on numerous occasions whilst he was flying between numerous jobs. You can hear that in his LSO Live recording with them in this work, they're switched-on pros of course so they're ready for whatever on the night, but there's a lot of errors in the early stages of the performance, and some tentativeness is evident with entries etc that I just don't hear on other recordings of this work, that said it does get better. I saw him perform with the Rotterdam at the Proms years ago, good show too but I failed to understand how they could follow him,he has...a certain way on the podium.... but I guess he spent more time there building a rapport with them than he did at the LSO so they knew what he wanted, as they do in this clip.
@@Muzakman37 As a choir singer on a performance of Mahler's 2nd with Gergiev I can confirm it was very clear what he wanted from us but the WHEN part was entirely up to us... a very different - and terrifying - experience to what we're used to as performers. However, once you realise you're expected to keep your own timing as an ensemble it's an absolute pleasure to work with him. He has a knack of getting the most out of even even the most mediocre performers (such as yours truly) to remarkable effect, and he really knows how let the musicians rely on their own group instincts so he can focus on the intention and character of the piece. I look forward to my next performance with him, he's a true master.
@@Muzakman37 Agreed, he can be really great but then you have his LSO Prokofiev symphony cycle which is in my opinion horrible. Then rewind to 2012 Marinski, here on RU-vid awailable audio-video, live cycle and you'll find good Prokofiev - although raw and unbalanced, but still to my taste and to my great enjoyment. Gergiev is really good with the Müncheners. Saved one of their live concerts (they deleted it later) beginning with Stravinsky (Scherzo fantastique or Feu d'artifice, forgot), magnificent Korsakov's "Kitezh" suite and Shostakovich's 4th symphony. Those latter pieces are also my great favorites, I especially hoard recordings of the 4th, and Gergiev, MPO & their audio-video recording team produced one of the greatest 4th. For me it started randomly some 25 years ago. On 3rd program of radio Belgrade Wednesday 20:00 "From the Archive" segment of the program with LP from Radio Belgrade archive of Ormandy's Philadelphia 1962 recording of Shostakovich 4th symphony. I recorded it on a Phillips tape, one of hundreds where I could as a kid build my taste by re-listening to radio Belgrade sound engineers professionally amplifying sound of their good as new & rarely played records. Same with Walcha's organ music or for Christian hollydays Klemperer's 1960's (New) Philharmonia Bach etc. It was magnificent because then very old musical program directors (died or pensioned after the fall of the regime in 2000) almost didn't touch HIP. And we're talking late 1990's. And I am very glad because of it. That Ormandy recording is still at the top, alongside 1978 Proms Rozhdestvensky, Melodya Rozhdestvensky, 2000 Proms Sinaisky, London Haitink. Out of recent "visibles" here on YT my favorites are Bychkov's, then aforementioned Gergiev's and Haitink's Berlin PO renditions. Problem with Haitink's is at the very end where you can hear loud audience noises. If he's switched on Gergiev is great. If he isn't he's sometimes less than mediocre. He's the state conductor so he has to balance immense political power he's holding with moments of talent and pure artistry when he can dedicate himself and let go. Because he is capable for it. What he said about Scriabin on few occasions ("He was inspired", he got that spark) and what he non-verbally showed here (Scriabin is a crazy guy) where Gergiev indulges in his "non gentlemanly", even brutal, crazy Russian-Ossetian side - I find that very appealing and I believe he can switch between that crazy out this world elation and ruthless material interest. If he, in that life's game, can preserve the spark he'll remain being an artist and he'll be remember as an artist first. Still you gotta love that arrogance, self confidence, courage, firmness of the stage mask. He's looking at life from a very different perspective than many. Yet he's still an artist who understands bat shit crazy genius like Scriabin (his 2nd symphony is my favorite). Regards from Belgrade Goran Katić
The thing you'll always feel about Gergiev, his passion for music goes way beyond the capabilties of a conductor...he is a pure genius, a master of his craft :-)
He needs to have a towel when he conducts to wipe away the torrents of sweat pouring down his face. Look for the video of him conducting Firebird. it's insane.
Being a conductor is quite the trial, so much to learn and so little time. Master Gergiev shows us that eventually, you have to understand and act on the basic impulses and sense you have of the music and make that clear to the musicians. So impressive, because his ability shows us the simplicity of the actions, but it's born from all that preparatory work.
And this guy is being expellied from everywhere now... Ok... You know? They will miss his great talent. In Music, it is much more important talent than political speeches. SHAME
The name of this guy is Tung Chieh Chuang (I guess), he's from Taiwan. In 2015, he won The Nikolaj Malko Competition for young conductors which was held in Denmark.
+UTV Poop You are confused on this. I don't know how the guy on this clip is called, but he definitely is not the same as the last Malko Competition's winner.
He recorded this work back in 2001, two years before this masterclass. He did it differently; He should re- do i. The things he says in this video are just gold; it will be a perfect recording. *to be continued*
He look like a crazy guy but ,this is realistic of the good conductor ,when you want somethings in real time ,sometimes you must communicated with your hand or your gesture to make your mind to real
see that the orchestra begins to play a little after Gergiev. this is a characteristic of eastern Europe orchestras. Edit: A conductor once said that at a seminar, maybe he meant eastern European conductors instead of orchestras or maybe he was wrong and it is in the personal style of each conductor...
This actually fully depends on conductor's style, not orchestra's preference. Some conductors like to have the orchestra play exactly on beat, but many don't.
I so agree with this philosophy. Gergiev’s hands were always like this, trembling energetic balls of musical fire, but his major body movements were actually quite conservative, and always very calculated. I feel that, as a conductor, you take something away from the music if you’re fluttering about endlessly. Rather than sound out the beat, I always imagined a conductor as someone who moderates dynamics and emotions on the one hand and, on the other, queues important people (and starts and stops the music), which when you think about it requires much less movement, and I feel that this is what he does here.
GENIO..!!! Grande ..sublime ICARUS..i Don Quijote fascinante..Su Alma arde desde la Noche de los Tiempos..Su Ciencia..Su AMOR..y nos eleva o sumerge en el Sueño Creador del Compositor..bebiendo Su Dolor y Alegrías..su Melancolía ..su ÉXTASIS ! En oleaje sempiterno nos arrastra hacia ese Paraíso Perdido q soñamos todos los Hijos de Naturaleza..bravo..Gran Señor Valery Georguiev..Arcángel de la Música ..AQUíLES del Arte ..lo Bello inescrutable lo posée..i su inocencia pura la transmite al Ser q en su agonía por sed de amor i honradéz..bébe la Ambrosía q destilan las Luminosas Pléyades..o las Furias terribles.. e invisibles Laberintos de Minotauros o volantes i briosos Pegados de Zéus abrazador i Apolo i Minerva i Afrodita.. Las Madres Náyades.. Oh.Tierra i Padre Cielo..bravo ! Yo aquí tiemvlo i lágrimas acuden a mis ojos .. leve..leviíssimo..preso en mi terrenal usura e incertidumbre ..soy feliz unos instantes..
"Never the same twice" is actually considered one of Maestro Gergiev's merits... well, at least for listeners I guess; players would have good reason for saying "Erratic"
@dorfischer *continued* Also the bell in the current recording (at the ending) is correctly a church bell but sounds tinny, it should be a better instrument and should be positioned in the front of the orchestra in a concert setting (not sure about how to record it). A good example of how the bell should sound is the performance by piere boulez and the chicago symphony. The bell sounds perfect, the best I've heard.
diciamo che non vorrei ricevere lezioni di direzione da Gergiev!!! (se mai avesse una qualche utilità studiare direzione --non mi riferisco a composizione, fuga,lettura partitura...). ho in mente un altro direttore (che NON ha mai studiato direzione), ma è morto.
Thanks to Leonard Bernstein a lot of young conducting students think that they have to put on a physical show for the audience. When Lorin Maazel was on the podium there were times when he wouldn’t move at all while the musicians were playing; he would just listen. If everything is going as it should there is no need to lead an orchestra. Why mess with success?
