THE TCHAIKOVSKY PROJECT: VOLUME 2 There is, of course, the abiding warmth and humanity of the Czech Philharmonic where expressivity always trumps spectacle, where phrasing relates to sound in ear-catching ways and the reasons the notes are these in the first place...
Mahler: Symphony No. 5 Bychkov is careful to keep the strings’ lyric funeral-marches objective, and it ’s fascinating how the Adagietto sounds otherworldly until the cellos bring in a richly portamentoed human warmth…the brass both individually and collectively...
Mahler: Symphony No. 4 Bychkov plainly knows what he wants and how to get it…The playing as such is wonderful. The Scherzo is closely observed rather than directly experienced, the Trio festooned with more string slides and abundant woodwind detail. Gramophone LISTEN...
