The evening was rounded off with Beethoven’s Second Symphony in D major, played as a transparent stream of tones with many dynamic changes, rhythmic vivacity, softness, and purity of the larghetto and the third movement’s minuet bursting with verve and power.
Following an extensive tour of Asia with the Czech Philharmonic including four concerts in Tokyo, Semyon Bychkov returns to Europe to conduct three concerts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The programme opens with Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony in B minor and ends with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D major. Concluding the first half of the programme, Evgeny Kissin joins Semyon Bychkov for a performance Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in D flat major.