Prior to the forthcoming Kirov performances at Sadlers Wells an interview by Debra Craine with Valery Gergiev has appeared in today's Times ( In the Times 2 section)
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 876572.ece
Reading between the lines, I'd say Ms Craine is sceptical about Gergiev's commitment to the ballet, feeling that his priority is always the opera. Some of Gergiev's comments are worrying:
Quote:
“Do we need two versions of Sleeping Beauty, two Bayadères?” he asks, thus dismissing in a single question two of the most important reconstructions under Vaziev's directorship.
And there is a fair bit of implied criticism of Makhar Vaziev elsewhere in the interview.
Quote:
Thanks to a hastily arranged staging of The Golden Age - intended as the dance centrepiece of his much-vaunted Shostakovich celebrations - the company, then led by Makhar Vaziev, suffered the kind of critical vitriol that would have sent a lesser troupe home to lick its wounds for a decade. “Vaziev's choice of choreographer was a big mistake,” Gergiev says. “The project was too big for Noah Gelber and the result wasn't good. I was very upset and I blame myself for not intervening. I never want to see experimentation go that far again.”
Is it fair to blame Vaziev? After all the originally designated choreographer backed out leaving Vaziev no choice but to engage whoever was prepared to take on a full length at very short notice and if I remember rightly a new version of the Golden Age was needed for Gergiev's pet project of a Shostakovich tribute. Therefore Gergiev should shoulder most of the blame for that.