Following an extraordinary performance of Britten’s War Requiem in London, Semyon Bychkov brought this towering and moving work to the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and had the critics reaching for superlatives:

Of the dozen live performances I have heard on three continents of Britten’s magnificent War Requiem, Saturday night’s San Francisco Symphony presentation was not only among the “best,” but also something apart from all previous experience.

San Francisco Classical Voice, 30 November 2013

Martin Kettle gives Semyon Bychkov four stars in The Guardian for his Remembrance Day Sunday performance of Britten’s War Requiem with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Kettle writes, “Bychkov’s conducting has a wonderful sense of line and structure. You know where you are going from the...