You would be hard-pressed to find a more celebrated conductor of the moment than Valery Gergiev, and the still-young Russian is mounting a very public push to propel one of his orchestras, St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky, into the top of the international ranks. But “[Gergiev’s] energy has not always endeared him to orchestras or critics, some of whom equate his jet-setting lifestyle with a shallowness of preparation. Stories are legion of Gergiev turning up hours late to rehearsals, giving interviews during concert intervals and holding up the second half, and cutting his schedules so fine that they give orchestral managers panic attacks.”