I listened again to the entire Gergiev/LSO M8 from St. Paul's Cathedral on BBC 3 radio. This second hearing confirmed what I was thinking the first time: this is one of the best sung M8's I've ever heard. In fact, I think that only the old Kubelik performances may be better sung than this one.
The cast is an all Russian cast, with the exception of mezzo Lili Paasikivi (she's Finnish); and boy, are they ever good. The tenor was particularly outstanding, I felt. Perhaps the boomy acoustics of St. Paul's flattered the singers a bit. I also suspect that they were seated behind the orchestra (at the front of the choirs). Anyway, the last three big solos in Part 2 were outstanding: Una Poenititium's pleading to made Faust's "tutor" (she's really Gretchen, and forgives Faust for some unknown reason); Mater Gloriosio's offstage beckoning to raise ourselves to ever higher spheres (appropriately sung in the distance), followed by Dr. Marianus' big "Blicket auf" solo. All of these were great. I also very much liked Gergiev's pacing of the work. For my taste, the very end of the symphony could have been just a tad slower ala Bertini. But that's OK; one Gary Bertini is enough.
I really enjoyed this performance, and am curious as to how much the LSO Live recording may or may not tame the boomy acoustics. Actually, I really enjoyed the long "hang time" at the end of both parts.
You can also hear the entire 7th symphony performance at BBC 3. I listened to most of that as well - the last two movements are outstanding! The finale is just a knock-out. The CD of the 7th comes out in early August. FYI.
Barry
By the way, I think that you can listen to BBC 3 only through Realplayer. It doesn't take long to download the plugins though. You techy people may have ways around all this.
Topic: B.G.'s listens again to Gergiev/LSO M8 from St. Paul's (Read 3388 times)