“The unexpected news that the Russian super-conductor Valery Gergiev has added Britain’s top orchestra, the London Symphony, to his bulging portfolio is still reverberating round the classical-music world… Gergiev is clearly delighted to be chosen by the LSO, but his real passion is reserved for the Kirov Opera and Ballet. With a single-mindedness that borders on obsession, Gergiev has thrown himself into creating a company to rival, and many would say, overtake, the Bolshoi in Moscow.”