The master and his Pupil it´s a documentary filmed in September 2002 by the BBC about the famous Russian conductor Valery Gergiev. He gives master classes in Rotterdam to three very talented conductors and just starting colleagues. Under Gergiev’s supervision the three conductors were asked to conduct the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in a demanding programme of two works by Scriabin – “Poem of Ecstasy” and “Prometheus”. The comparisons between Spanish/American conductor Alexis Soriano already with his own orchestra – the State Hermitage Orchestra in St Petersburg – and who has Gergiev’s fire and passion, and Anglo/Chinese conductor Jason Lai, assistant conductor of the BBC PO, too technical and metronomic for Scriabin, and the Dutch conductor Otto Tausk are revealing. The unsung heroes are the orchestra displaying just how accomplished youth orchestras are these days. On the debit side the additional film music was not required two works by Scriabin are enough music for any film.
