wdr

WDR Chairman Speech of Farewell to S. Bychkov, 12 June 2010

Of course we are all still stirred up from the passionate waves of music between Tristan and his Isolde, and the sentiments brought about from the other pieces have not yet calmed down – and herewith our emotional state becomes tangible and understandable, since this state has accompanied us throughout 13 years of collective work in rehearsals, recordings and concerts with Semyon Bychkov and his orchestra; intensive as well as intimate music-making, as it is only otherwise to be learnt and experienced in chamber music schooling. You, venerated Maestro, have bestowed these virtues onto your great instrument, the WDR Symphony Orchestra.
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Through your total and passionate devotion, you have formed the sound-body of your instrument – the Symphony Orchestra – so beautifully, that the orchestra has aroused equivalent desire in concert promoters both within this country and abroad, which has always been the wish of every man and woman in this orchestra.
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And this disciplined devotion to a collective goal eventually led us to the corresponding realization in the pantheon of internationally recognized orchestras; and indeed it is wonderful to know that the appropriately named “Bychkov era” is much talked about and that we, as musicians from the WDR Symphony Orchestra, are admired and identified everywhere amongst colleagues and connoisseurs within the classical music scene. The Orchestra can now look back on numerous concert highlights in many countries and, in addition, has also been awarded many impressive awards for its CD-and DVD-performances…
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… and so, your thirteen-year conducting-tenure has made the decisive artistic impression on all respective young musicians, who have received and will continue to feel the effect of your developed repertoire far beyond your tenure, and who will in turn pass it on. I include the young musicians of the NRW Landesjugendorchester, whose eyes glow when they talk about their concert under your baton last January here in the Cologne Philharmonie. It’s wonderful to know, that our combined work is not only captured on CD and DVD productions, but will also leave distinct tracks in future music lives.
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“Quality is not negotiable” – is your leitmotiv, and this over the past thirteen years has been conveyed to our Symphony Orchestra and incorporated into the core of our broadcasting corporation.
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Today this Symphony Orchestra is resplendent as WDR’s sparkling jewel, as acknowledged so aptly by Mr Pleitgen at the opening concert of the Ruhr Piano Festival in Bochum. And as we just heard in the concert this evening, you, dear Semyon Bychkov, through your unflinching demands for quality have cut and polished this top-class jewel into the indispensable royal treasure that it has become. Your artistic effects will continue to linger on, just as this concert tonight…
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Dear Semyon Bychkov, at the end, in the name of all musicians of the WDR Symphony Orchestra may I just say with all our hearts and souls, thank you very much for the wonderful time as principal conductor, and a hearty welcome as guest conductor…

Bruno Klepper, Chair of the WDR Symphony Orchestra

WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln - BBC Prom 2010

For his farewell Bychkov took the orchestra on a last climb up the Alps, relishing the view from the summit in glowing colours and playing the closing epilogue with an expansive, valedictory eloquence... This was the conductor/orchestra relationship heard at its peak.
Financial Times, July 2010

The Alpine Symphony was a superb example not only of the orchestra's unshowy technical excellence, but also of Bychkov's combination of restraint, refinement and discrimination. It's easy enough to make Strauss's last tone poem sprawl and seem garish, but there was a sense of proportion and moments of ravishing tonal beauty here
The Guardian, July 2010

Bychkov is a remarkable conductor. His account of the Prelude to Wagner’s Lohengrin was simply ethereal. Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, with lithe soloist Viviane Hagner, was no less buoyant, its finale tripping along with elfin delicacy. Bychkov’s podium manner is always elegant and unflappable, even in the face of torrential Alpine downpours. But the secret of his success is that he also captures the element of spiritual affirmation that underpins Strauss’s depiction of natural phenomena.
The Evening Standard, July 2010

WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln

European Tour May 2010

Le souffle de Semyon Bychkov

Le chef russe naturalisé américain signe deux belles interprétations de Strauss au Victoria Hall de Genève

Deux poèmes symphoniques de Strauss: ce n’est pas rien pour une soirée d’orchestre. Semyon Bychkov, chef russe naturalisé américain, ex-patron de l’Orchestre de Paris avant de prendre les rênes de l’Orchestre symphonique de la WDR de Cologne en 1998, a atteint l’âge de la maturité. A 57 ans, il dirige avec une aisance et un naturel qui font plaisir à voir.

Il y a une rondeur dans son geste, une plénitude qui ne verse jamais dans l’emphase. C’est bien le danger quand on dirige Strauss. Les poèmes symphoniques exigent une virtuosité extrême des musiciens. La tentation est forte de bomber le torse et d’en faire des tours de force. Or Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Les joyeuses équipées de Till l’espiègle) requiert un fin esprit de dérision, capable d’en cerner la bouffonnerie et le caractère burlesque sans forcer le trait. Derrière les puissantes envolées d’Une Vie de héros se loge un message spirituel: le vrai héros est celui qui se détache des adversaires (comprenez les critiques musicaux s’il s’agit d’un compositeur, comme Strauss l’a suggéré) et qui suit son chemin, capable de faire son propre examen de conscience.

A la tête d’un orchestre somptueusement expressif et souple, Semyon Bychkov cherche toujours la grande ligne. Il fait respirer la trame instrumentale, relie les différents épisodes dans un flux organique qui ne s’interrompt jamais. C’est généreux sans être lourd, puissant sans être grandiloquent (les cuivres!). Les sonorités fondues de l’orchestre allemand sont envoûtantes; autant le violon solo (dans son ample développement) que les bois (très beau solo du cor anglais à la fin d’Une Vie de héros) rendent leur grandeur d’âme à Strauss.

Le pianiste suisse Oliver Schny¬der, convié pour le 2e Con¬certo de Beethoven en milieu de soirée, développe un toucher rond et cristallin. C’est un jeu sain, équilibré, sans tics, un peu propret. Oliver Schnyder pourrait prendre plus de risques avec la partition. Il y manque ces intuitions qui font les grandes interprétations.
Le Temps, May 2010