Mikhail Tatarnikov managed the finale like a delicately otherworldly Requiem
- Thomas Thielemann , ioco.de
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Debut at Semperoper Dresden with Pique Dame, return to Opéra national de Paris with Don Quichotte by Massenet, Mazeppa at the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, debut at the jubilee of Salzburg festival with Mozarteum Orchestra, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, a tour of gala concerts with Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov with performances in Japan, China, Seoul, Australia and New Zealand; The Demon at Gran Teatre del Liceu, numerous ballet and opera productions at Mikhailovsky Theatre; Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Samson et Dalila at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with Roberto Alagna and Orchestre National de France, Boris Godunov at Opéra de Monte-Carlo, The Snow Maiden at Opéra de Paris, Manon Lescaut at Staatsoper Berlin, Prince Igor at Staatsoper Hamburg, VěcMakropulos at San Francisco Opera.
There was much to admire in this account of the Khachaturian, most memorably in its opening pages where Tatarnikov drew eloquent woodwind solos and finely balanced string tone – violins judging to perfection the weight of their repeated-note patterns
From its sombre beginning, and eloquent clarinet, there unfolded a well-paced movement, Tatarnikov generating plenty of momentum (without ever rushing) and ample energy with well-projected brass and timpani adding zest to its dramas
Musically, the performance was at an exceptionally high level. For his company debut, Mikhail Tatarnikov immersed himself with the musicians of the Sächsische Staatskapelle in the narrative of emotional outbursts, the lyrical and murderous moments of Tchaikovsky's emotionally charged music with the highest sound quality. From the conductor's podium, Mikhail Tatarnikov allowed the large chorus and orchestra to flourish in many colours. The drama resounded with tremendous force from the orchestra pit. The wind instruments in particular gave their all for Russian operatic magic, dynamics and exciting arcs.
At the same time, Tatarnikov stayed on track with the sober clarity of the score and the modernity of the tonal language of Tchaikovsky. The music was concise and compact, far from any susceptibility to kitsch, without missing anything from the spectrum of highly emotional music between melancholic suffering and dramatic passion. After the drastic final scene, Mikhail Tatarnikov managed the finale like a delicately otherworldly Requiem.
Russian conductor Mikhail Tatarnikov, who was born in St. Petersburg, was at the podium. Under his direction, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden offered Russian soul in its purest form. The interpretation encompassed a field of tension between affect-driven realism and sensitive lyricism, free from pathos and pomposity, crystal-clear precision of the smallest details, without fear of painful sharpness, concentrated on the subtext that the music contributed to the range of character traits of the protagonists from nervous-desperate difficult to describe to manic obsessive on stage. And when the excellently arranged Saxon State Opera Choir was added, the sound gained in monumental pictorial quality.
On the podium, the Russian Mikhail Tatarnikov not only provides the idiom of the music per se, but he also starts quite powerfully and courageously.
