In the penultimate offering of his “Beloved Friend” Tchaikovsky project, Semyon Bychkov steered the BBC Symphony Orchestra between two extremes of late-Romantic symphonic writing. On the one hand, the challenge of variety when half of the orchestra is missing; on the other, the threat of colouristic saturation.
Bychkov’s supremely poised account of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings made a compelling argument for windless self-sufficiency. With high-intensity tone and superb ensemble work throughout, the BBCSO’s strings danced and soared, relishing the suite’s bel canto lyricism and its rhythmic complexities.
The return to full orchestra for Tchaikovsky’s problematic single-movement Piano Concerto No 3 was a jolt. (Even David Fanning’s programme note admits the piece was a “salvage job”.) Bychkov and soloist Kirill Gerstein were persuasive advocates – the former making musical sense of even the least rewarding motivic flotsam, the latter’s rhythmic definition genuinely thrilling – but nothing could prevent its occasional descent into muddiness. In that sense and others, Gerstein’s crystalline encore (from Tchaikovsky’s 18 Pieces, Op 72) was perfectly judged.
Sergei Taneyev’s overture The Oresteia outdoes even Tchaikovsky in the colouristic-symphonic vein (full-frontal brass, huge, blooming melodies,; splashes of harp). Bychkov’s immaculate sense of line was crucial here. But for sheer musicality, nothing compared to the final piece, Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini. From the dense score, Bychkov drew glorious solos from the woodwind (clarinet in particular) and exhilarating climaxes from the brass. Yet it was his commitment to balancing the musical middle-distance that stood out, the whole vast texture beautifully, minutely proportioned.
