THE JOURNAL (Newcastle, UK) - 21.01.2005

ST PETERSBURG EARN ENCORES, THOMAS HALL

The St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra at The Sage Gateshead - In the second of its three-concert run at The Sage, the St Petersburg gave its Tyneside audience another demonstration of why it is ranked among the world's top orchestras.
Placed in the concert hall, away from its dance context, Stravinsky's The Fairy Kiss becomes, in effect, a programmatic piece, illustrating Hans Christian Anderson's The Ice Maiden. The musical style, however, is a tribute to an earlier Russian master, Tchaikovsky his songs and piano pieces. It sat well alongside the 1919 version of Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite, both giving music director and principal conductor Yuri Temirkanov the chance to show off the playing of his magnificent orchestra.
Rachmaninov held his last major orchestral work, the Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, written in 1940, to be among his best. With less of Stravinsky's penchant for novelty, the three sections gave a superb performance, easily winning the St Petersburg its resounding encores.