Bravo's in the Hall, Booing Backstage
   By JOHN ROCKWELL / NYTimes

   IN the opera house and the concert hall, in the United States and
   Europe (and Asia), on CD and DVD, in reviews and feature articles,
   the conductor Valery Gergiev is everywhere...

   But as with any career ascent so brilliant, a virulent backlash has
   become apparent of late. For years, administrators have groused that
   Mr. Gergiev's superhuman workload has made for sudden cancellations,
   breathless arrivals at the last minute (or occasionally later) and
   a generally helter-skelter atmosphere. There have been complaints
   about his baton technique. The New York Philharmonic's musicians
   reportedly discounted Mr. Gergiev early in the tortuous search for
   a music director that wound up with Lorin Maazel.

   All of this rankling dissatisfaction came to light last summer
   with the Kirov's ill-fated Verdi series in London, which was widely
   dismissed as undercast and underprepared.

   http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/24/arts/music/24ROCK.html

Janos Gereben/SF
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