Semyon Bychkov’s Tchaikovsky Project spans two continents and three orchestras. The London leg is a series of three concerts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra this month at the Barbican in London; a similar series follows with the New York Philharmonic in January. In parallel with the live performances, Bychkov is recording some of the same repertoire with the Czech Philharmonic in Prague, of which this is the first disc.
The running order puts the Pathétique Symphony before the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy, so that the strengths and weakness of Bychkov’s approach are writ large from the start. There are passages in both works that are undeniably thrilling – the great climaxes in both the first movement of the symphony and in the overture are irresistible, with the Czech orchestra, its brass especially, on top form. But set against those are too many sections when tempi seem indulgently slow and phrasing self-consciously mannered, moulded as if it had been squeezed out of a tube. Even the placing of individual chords is sometimes so deliberate the effect is deadening, and the moments of genuine excitement don’t come close to outweighing such contrivances.
