So can Kirill Petrenko cut it on record?

The German label CPO has released three recordings it made a decade ago with the incoming chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. These are virtually the only evidence on record of what the shy and retiring conductor can do in symphonic reprtoire.

It’s my album of the week on sinfinimusic.com:

When the Berlin Philharmonic named its new chief conductor four months ago, Kirill Petrenko had not worked with the orchestra in three years. Russian-born and of Jewish extraction, he was known for intense opera conducting at the Komische Oper in Berlin and the Bayreuth Festival. Unlike past Berlin maestros, he had a low media profile and no record label. Last week, he renewed his contract with Bavarian State Opera, delaying his Berlin chiefdom to the end of the decade. Petrenko, 43, is letting Berlin know he does things his way.

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