Valery Gergiev is one of the world's most sought after conductors. He's principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and Artistic and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre. Gergiev is also a frequent guest conductor who regularly appears with the world's great orchestras and opera companies.
Gergiev has enjoyed a stellar recording career and has made over a dozen recordings, featuring music of Bartok, Debussy, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and Ravel, with the London Symphony Orchestra for their LSO Live label. Then there's Mahler. With the notable exceptions of Yevgeny Svetlanov and Rudolf Barshai, Russian conductors have not recorded much Mahler. But Gergiev has broken the mold and has recorded the composer's nine symphonies and the Adagio of the Tenth Symphony for LSO Live.
With our featured new release, Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra complete their critically acclaimed Mahler Symphonies cycle with the Ninth, Mahler's last complete work. Written during a period of personal turmoil (Mahler knew he was suffering from a heart condition that would soon end his life), the Ninth is Mahler's farewell to the mortal world. The late conductor Herbert von Karajan perhaps said it best when speaking of the Ninth, "It is music coming from another world, it is coming from eternity." Like all of the Mahler symphonies, the Ninth is a work of many moods, vibrant color and power, all of which are captured by Gergiev and the LSO on this sonically splendid recording.
by Craig Zeichner
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