A couple of new releases appeared on the Mariinsky Label, our own record label, earlier this month. For the first time these recordings came out in DVD and Blu-Ray (ten previous recordings released on the Mariinsky Label were all in SACD). The advent of new recording formats greatly expands the label’s avenues, because it gives an opportunity to capture not only audio but also video stuff, and allows to produce recordings of full-length ballet and opera performances from the Mariinsky Theatre.

Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies by Tchaikovsky were recorded at the famous Salle Pleyel in January 2010 during performances of the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, which opened the Year of France – Russia in Paris. In that series of concerts, our Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev for the first time performed the complete cycle of Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies.

George Balanchine’s masterpiece Jewels (*) reflects influences of three major ballet schools: the French, the American and the Russian, showing the charm, beauty and grandeur of dance. The recording, which was made in April 2006, features a roster of well-known ballet dancers: Zhanna Ayupova, Ulyana Lopatkina, Igor Zelensky, Andrian Fadeyev, et.al.

* — Jewels will be performed at the Mariinsky Theatre on November 17th.