A review of my recent performance with the Mariinsky Orchestra on tour at Princeton University.
“Solzhenitsyn’s best qualities were much in evidence on Tuesday, not competing with Gergiev on his own terms, but acting as a temperamentally cooler counterbalance.
The Rachmaninoff piece told its story more clearly than usual, aided by the orchestra’s excellent, dark brass section, and did so with masterfully escalating tension, giving the piece a solid air of inevitability.
Solzhenitsyn laid solid metrical groundwork in Shostakovich’s first movement, exerting subtle influence on how the music moves and building any given movement with a meticulousness that, if anything, put the expressive content into higher relief.
The orchestra seemed unfazed by the touring, playing with great commitment for Solzhenitsyn, who could be healthy for this orchestra if he becomes a frequent-enough guest.”