When Valery Gergiev conducted the Munich Phil last week, the Abendzeitung expressed the critic’s impression that the Gergiev had not thoroughly rehearsed the programme. Today, The Times takes the same line after the first of the Prokofiev concerts by the Mariinsky Orchestra and Gergiev at London’s Cadogan Hall. The newspaper writes: « Precision has never been part of the Gergiev-Mariinsky rough magic package. While not exactly sight-reading, the orchestra played as though rehearsing for the first time, without stopping to correct infelicities of articulation, intonation, blend, balance and ensemble. »
