Gergiev is not only a great conductor and a good Russian citizen for putting his local orchestra back at the top of the international league, but a fascinating, inspiring and charismatic figure. In 2002, he guided three young conductors in Rotterdam through a series of masterclasses ('The Master and His Pupil'). This is one of the great documentaries about mentoring, teaching, instruction, direction and guidance, and has something about it both of the 'Karate Kid' and 50s Westerns 'Tin Star' or 'Rio Bravo', the irascible older man teasing and tormenting, disciplining and shaping young, gifted but occasionally silly talent.
Unfortunately, 'The Master and His Pupil' is still not available on disk, but there is this fascinating consolation-prize from 1997, when Gergiev led the Rotterdam orchestra through rehearsals for the Prokofiev 'Scythian Suites'.
The pairing is doubly, trebly interesting, for Gergiev himself comes from the southern states of Russia, Ossetia in the Caucasas, a district known historically as 'Scythia', and the 'bright wildness' of these ancient peoples scared invaders off, centuries ago. That spirit Prokofiev attempted to capture with his bright, jagged music in this orchestral suite which ends with the astonishing 'rising of the sun' sequence, when the sound reaches a brilliant sustained crescendo which in Gergiev's hands becomes a moment of blinding zenith and riveting drama.
Prokofiev's son, Oleg, stands by and gives some intriguing comments to the camera. Archive footage of the premiere, photos from the period, and interviews with Gergiev make this a remarkable disk in its own right. As well as a concert version of the Scythian Suites, the Rotterdam Philharmonic performs Stravinsky's Fireworks and Piano Concerto with Alexandre Toradze as soloist, Debussy's Le Martyre De Saint Sebastien.