Semyon Bychkov’s current performances with the the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and Chicago Symphony have earned enthusiastic praise from US critics. The programme features Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11, “The Year 1905”, coupled with Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, performed by pianist Kirill Gerstein in New York and Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in Philadelphia with Yefim Bronfman as soloist.
Vivien Schweitzer writing in The New York Times says, “In the third movement of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11, “The Year 1905,” the violas play a melancholy theme over the subdued pizzicati of the lower strings. When Semyon Bychkov led the New York Philharmonic in a brilliant performance of the work on Thursday evening at Avery Fisher Hall, the melody unfolded tenderly. It softly re-emerged with radiant introspection at the end of the third movement, called In Memoriam…Under Mr. Bychkov’s direction, the performance sizzled — the cellos simmering and taut at the opening, the frantic climax unfolding with breathtaking force.”
She shared her praise with pianist and the maestro, adding, “But conductor and pianist seemed to share the same vision, never swooning over climactic phrases and preventing the music from toppling into a schmaltzy abyss.”
David Patrick Stearns, in his review for The Philadelphia Inquirer writes, “Subtitled The Year 1905, ostensibly to commemorate the Russian revolution, the symphony had a somewhat Germanic approach: Rather than just making a mighty Russian noise, Bychkov clearly laid bare the music’s subversive subtexts…Under Bychkov, even the most raucous musical events were meticulously delineated, inflected with great specificity about what the music might mean, but also with a particular ear for strangeness. The composer’s characteristic gestures came out twisted, contorted, turned upside down, and played backward…
[Bronfman’s] innate technical precision served him well for the filigree lines of Beethoven’s most introspective, poetic concerto, seconded by Bychkov’s collaborative sense of creating an integrated view of the concerto, even amid the second-movement confrontation between orchestra and soloist.”
For more on Shostakovich, click here to visit the composer’s Spotlight page.