Following explosive accounts of the First and Sixth
symphonies, the third release in Valery Gergiev's
astonishing Mahler cycle features Symphony No 7.
The revelatory performances of the Seventh have
been one of the highlights of the cycle in concert to
date.
“a performance of the Seventh Symphony as cohesive and powerful as I can remember. This was a blinder from start to finish …” Financial Times **** (concert review)
“In glossing over the leering monsters of this gilt ballroom of sound, Gergiev finds a more or less cohesive - if not always satisfying - epic thread, although the central Scherzo still rebels. Gergiev and a lively LSO sweep up the finale bells and whistles with exhilarating energy.” The Times, 26th July 2008 ****
“Valery Gergiev treats [the Seventh Symphony] as an exercise in orchestral virtuosity that primarily strives for effect rather than attempting to explore underlying substance. It's thrillingly played, but Gergiev's speeds are at times self-consciously extreme. A sense of garbled excitement pervades the outer movements, which could do with more consideration and shape. The morbid central scherzo and the two nocturnes that frame it are more adroitly done: the second nocturne is sexy as well as ironic, which makes it very unsettling.” The Guardian, 8th August 2008 ***
“Right from the start, with those dark, dragging rhythms, there's a sense that something special is afoot here. Driven and grittily intense though his direction often is, it isn't ruthless. …I can't think of another recording of this symphony that not only brings so many of its extraordinary features to life, but ultimately balances them so satisfyingly.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2008 *****
“Valery Gergiev's dark, pumped-up Seventh might prove to be the high-light of the cycle … it holds in tight unity a score that can sprawl into incoherence.The playing is consistently assured; the sound powerfully immediate” Gramophone Magazine, October 2008
