Opera News Article On Krill Petrenko .

[THEHORN]

The July issue of Opera News has a really interesting article on Kirill Petrenko , the rather mysterious and elusive Russian conductor who is set to succeed Sir Simon Rattle as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, and who is currently music director of the Bavarian State opera .
Petrenko avoids publicity on the whole and rarely gives interviews . He's not a flashy , glamorous podium star , but in recent years he's gained a really big reputation in Europe, particularly in Germany , and orchestras and audiences in Europe seem to love him .
Interestingly, he doesn't in any way specialize in Russian music , and has become one of today's foremost conductors of Wagner and Richard Strauss in the opera pit . Petrenko has conducted the controversial Bayreuth Ring set in the American west and on the Caspian sea and appeared at the Met about a decade or so ago before he became as well known as he is . His career has primarily been in Germany though .
He made such a favorable impression on the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic when guest conducting them as to be chosen as their next chief conductor even though no one outside the orchestra would have anticipated this .
According to the article, Petrenko has the kind of ability to achieve amazing results as the late Carlos Kleiber and to motivate orchestras and singers to outdo themselves . However, his repertoire is not a small and limited as Kleiber's , and he has championed lesser known repertoire such as the music of Josef Suk, which he has recorded . So far , he has made a handful of recordings with the orchestra of the Komische oper Berlin where he was music director not too long ago .
Petrenko , a native of Omsky, Siberia , studied in Austria and quickly made his way up through the ranks of smaller opera companies before being appointed music director of the Bavarian State opera and finally the B.P.O .
I've only heard bits and pieces of his conducting on youtube, but would definitely like to hear more .

[Len_Z]

I know several people who consider Kirill Petrenko a deity of sorts and worship at his altar, following him and his orchestras around the globe. Sadly, I missed his Carnegie Hall appearances this Spring and thus have never heard him live. Funny though that there's another Russian conductor with the same last name (Petrenko) but with a different first one (Vassily) whom I happen to admire. His complete DSCH Symponies set is, I think, the most impressive of all the recent ones.

[John F]

I haven't heard any of his performances in person, only broadcasts and telecasts on YouTube, and that can be misleading; balances are finally under the sound engineer's control. But what I've heard doesn't bear comparison with Carlos Kleiber, who was noted (among other things) for the refinement of his balances within the orchestra and between the orchestra and the stage. From Mozart's Haffner Symphony to Tchaikovsky's Pathetique, now and then the timpani are excessively loud, which is unstylish in Mozart and drowns out important material in Tchaikovsky. This is only the most obvious of many questionable balances in the Tchaikovsky and other works I've sampled. It may create a kind of excitement but it's not good for the music.

Petrenko and Andris Nelsons have been greeted with high enthusiasm, and the full-blooded vitality of their work is certainly welcome in a time when there's not so much of it about. But in comparison with other earlier and greater conductors, I think some of it is hype.

[jserraglio]

Thanks to an enthusiast from Germany on another forum, I am able to hear on demand a large number of KP's live European broadcasts from 2000 thru June of this year, listed below. Those should give an idea of what he likes to conduct. Haven't had the time to listen to most of them, but so far have found the Wagner and Suk particularly impressive.

Beethoven [Mustonen] Suk NDR 2008
Beethoven [Mustonen] Suk Asrael NDR 2007
Beethoven [Vogt] Elgar BPO 2009
Berg Lulu BaSO 2015 Munich
Berlioz Schoenberg Weber Tchaikovsky VSO 2011
Britten Peter Grimes KOB 2003
Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor BaSO 2015 Munich
Janacek Jenufa BaSO Munchen 2009
Kodaly Janacek GOL 2008 Leipzig
Lehar Land des Lachelns KOB 2007 Berlin
Lehar Land des Lachelns KOB 2007 video
Ligeti Strauss Tchaikovsky BaSO 2016
Mozart Clemenza di Tito BaSO Munchen 2014
Mussorgsky Khovanshchina Met 2012
Schmidt Symphony No. 4 KRSO 2000
Shchedrin Berio Mahler KOB 2004
Shchedrin Stravinsky [Rachlin] Scriabin BaSO 2014 Munich
Shostakovich Lady Macbeth [1934 ver.] BaSO 2016
Shostakovich Symphony No. 7 RAI NSO 2002
Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos Met 2010
Strauss Rosenkavalier BaSO 2014 TCE Paris
Strauss Shostakovich OPDRF 2010
Stravinsky Stephan Scriabin BPO 2012
Tchaikovsky Eugen Onegin VSOO 2010
Wagner Parsifal BaSO 2018 Munich
Reviews of Parsifal
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/arts ... fmann.html
http://seenandheard-international.com/2 ... -parsifal/
Wagner Ring des Nibelungen Bayreuth 2013 [partial]
Wagner Ring des Nibelungen Bayreuth 2014
Wagner Ring des Nibelungen Bayreuth 2015
Zemlinsky Rimsky-Korsakov KOB 2011 Berlin
Zimmermann Soldaten BaSO 2014 Munich

[John F]

Quite a contrast with Simon Rattle's repertory, and maybe that's what the Philharmoniker wanted when choosing Petrenko. His Metropolitan Opera debut was in Lehár's "Merry Widow" in 2003 and he also conducted "Ariadne auf Naxos," "Magic Flute," and "Khovanshchina," the latest in 2012. He didn't create a sensation here, no talk of "amazing results," though he was well received; during those years the Met's main Russian conductor was Valery Gergiev. Whatever, I wish Petrenko well in Berlin, and maybe we'll hear him when the orchestra comes here on tour..

[maestrob]

Just for the record, Vasily and Kirill Petrenko are brothers, or so I've heard. I've heard Vasily's Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich on CD and, except for Shostakovich V, find them very good and exciting listening. Not easy to make the Liverpuddlians sound Russian, but Vasily manages very well. DO wish he would do Prokofiev next!

Judging by the content of Kirill Petrenko's commercial recordings, he seems to prefer to make his name in obscure music instead of competing with the great recordings of the past in standard repertoire, including Pfitzner's Palestrina and Berg (not so obscure). Wise move. Now that he's got the Berliners under his baton, that's bound to change.

[THEHORN]

Actually, the two conductors are not related at all .

[THEHORN]

"The full blooded vitality of their conducting (Petrenko and Nelsons ) is certainly welcome in a time when there's not so much of it about " ?
John, are you really suggesting that the work of most of the other conductors of the present day is "lacking in vitality ?" With all due respect, how can you make such a sweeping generalization ?
Like their interpretations or not , the conducting of Dudamel , Gilbert, Rattle, Chailly, Gergiev, Bychkov, Muti, Nagano, Salonen, Thielemann , and others is anything but pallid and bland. Oh well, people have been longing for the "good old days " of classical music every since I can remember . You're hardly alone in this .

[John F]

John, are you really suggesting that the work of most of the other conductors of the present day is "lacking in vitality ?" With all due respect, how can you make such a sweeping generalization ?

What I said was, "The full-blooded vitality of their work is certainly welcome in a time when there's not so much of it about." I can say that because it's true. Merely naming a few apparently indiscriminate exceptions - Valery Gergiev and Alan Gilbert hardly belong in the same sentence - does not answer.

[jserraglio]

Merely naming a few apparently indiscriminate exceptions - Valery Gergiev and Alan Gilbert hardly belong in the same sentence - does not answer.

They're not indiscriminate exceptions. So long as they meet the criterion of full-blooded conductorial vitality, they would qualify as examples that call into question your sweeping generalization.

[John F]

Whatever one may think of Alan Gilbert, and I've heard and praised some of his work, "full-blooded vitality" is not how most would describe it.

[jserraglio]

Whatever one may think of Alan Gilbert, and I've heard and praised some of his work, "full-blooded vitality" is not how most would describe it.

Szell? Reiner? Gilbert could be replaced on THE HORN's list with any one of the following indiscriminately selected candidates for full-bloodedly-vital status. I choose Susanna Mälkki. Your pick?

Heras-Casado, Marcus Bosch, Alsop, Deneve, MTT, Merlot, Joshua Bell, Jayce Ogren, Nezet-Sequin, Slatkin, V.Jurowski, Simone Young, Welser-Most, Gaffigan, Malkki, Villaume, Karabits, Gamba, A.Fischer, Segerstam, Oramo, F-X Roth, Lintu, I.Fischer, Paul Daniel, P. Jarvi, Harding, Cambreling, Jansons, V.Petrenko, Luisi, Pletnev, de Waart, Levi, Falletta, Jansons, Oundjian, FK Gruber, Joshua Weilerstein, Pappano, A.Davis, Brett Mitchell, Alexander Vedernikov.

[maestrob]

I know several people who consider Kirill Petrenko a deity of sorts and worship at his altar, following him and his orchestras around the globe. Sadly, I missed his Carnegie Hall appearances this Spring and thus have never heard him live. Funny though that there's another Russian conductor with the same last name (Petrenko) but with a different first one (Vassily) whom I happen to admire. His complete DSCH Symponies set is, I think, the most impressive of all the recent ones.

Hi, LenZ.

Have you heard Oleg Caetani's Shostakovich set? Very impressive, IMHO. Caetani is the son of Igor Markevitch, a worthy lineage by any standard.