Strauss: Die Frau Ohne Schatten - VALERY GERGIEV, MARIINSKY ORCHESTRA (2 DVDS)

Avgust Amonov (Emperor), Mlada Khudoley (Empress), Olga Savova (Nurse), Edem Umerov (Barak), Olga Sergeyeva (Barak's Wife)

Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev (conductor) & Jonathan Kent (stage director)

Gergiev coaxes some magnificent playing from his Mariinsky orchestra...But it's [his] attention to detail that really counts with nothing smudged or generalised in his reading of the score...Best of all is Olga Savova's Nurse - artful, cunning and slightly sinister. A properly wicked fairy or Baba Yaga. --BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE