{"id":3661,"date":"2012-01-12T20:21:32","date_gmt":"2012-01-12T19:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=3661"},"modified":"2012-01-12T20:21:32","modified_gmt":"2012-01-12T19:21:32","slug":"repertoire-report-semyon-bychkov-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2012\/01\/12\/repertoire-report-semyon-bychkov-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Repertoire Report- Semyon Bychkov 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Conductor Semyon Bychkov has been a stalwart of our annual Repertoire Reports for many years. This year\u2019s Report was culled from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.semyonbychkov.com\/concerts.php?s=1011\" target=\"_blank\">his very-user-friendly website by Monty in Phoenix.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s Bychkov Report is remarkably consistent with past years- as always, he conducts quite a small number of works over the course of year: 41 this year, <a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2008\/12\/16\/conductor-repertoire-report-semyon-bychkov-2008\/\">30 in 2008<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2011\/01\/16\/2010-repertoire-report-semyon-bychkov\/\" target=\"_blank\">50 in 2010<\/a>. But what a schedule, and what works.<\/p>\n<p>Frankly, when you look at the listing of programs on his website in detail, you can see what an extraordinarily intense year Maestro Bychkov has had.\u00a0 One might very well question how any man who conducts Mahler 6\u00a0 18 times in a year can maintain his physical health and emotional well-being. Perhaps, you might think, he balances the apocalyptic intensity of the Mahler with lighter, less draining repertoire?<\/p>\n<p>Less draining repertoire like the 10 performances of Strauss\u2019s insanely intense psychodrama, Elektra?<\/p>\n<p>Or the five performances of Britten\u2019s War Requiem?<\/p>\n<p>Six performances of Shostakovich\u2019s titanic 11<sup>th<\/sup> Symphony?<\/p>\n<p>Eight performances of Schumann 2, Bobby\u2019s most intense work?<\/p>\n<p>And one-off\u2019s like the Verdi Requiem.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Semyon Bychkov and BBC Symphony Orchestra - Dies Irae [Verdi Requiem]\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hO1pn6D-t4M?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I really envy Maestro Bychkov\u2019s opportunities to live with and repeat great works with great orchestras- he does so much touring (this year with La Scala, Vienna Philharmonic and the Concertgebouw), which is where the greatest music-making often happens. In difficult economic times, it\u2019s important to remind patrons and funding bodies that touring is not just an essential part of cultural exchange, but an essential tool in raising orchestral playing and interpretation to the hightest possible level.<\/p>\n<p>In the course of 2011, I had three friends in various orchestras (NYO and BBC SO) refer to Bychkov as the \u201cgreatest living conductor.\u201d The only other conductors I heard described that way all year by anyone who knows anything about anything were Haitink and Weller. I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s possible to say who is the greatest living conductor, but I think this repertoire list and the way in which he schedules repertoire through the year offer some instructive clues as to why great orchestral musicians might conclude Bychkov is working at the highest possible level. Younger conductors can learn a lot from how he manages his study time and his performance schedule.<\/p>\n<p>Carlos Kleiber is often referred to as something like \u201cthe greatest conductor of all time, <strong><em>in spite of<\/em><\/strong> his limited repertoire.\u201d I\u2019m surprised how few people make the right connection between the size of his repertoire and the quality of his work. Perhaps Kleiber\u2019s work is so electric and essential and profound <strong><em>because<\/em><\/strong> he lived with a select number great works throughout his career, and focused on developing his ability to bring those few works to life as vibrantly as possible.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>By comparison to Kleiber, Bychkov\u2019s repertoire is positively vast, but you can bet that when a maestro is only dong 41 pieces in a year, most of them ones he will have done many times before, he\u2019ll have plenty of time to prepare each work, whether for a single performance like the Verdi or the 18 performances of the Mahler. It\u2019s a great demonstration of the value of quality over quantity.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>2011 REPERTOIRE REPORT- SEMYON BYCHKOV<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>BARTOK: The Miraculous Mandarin Suite, Op 19<\/li>\n<li>BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto<\/li>\n<li>BEETHOVEN: Symphony No 7<\/li>\n<li>BERIO: Rendering (after Schubert&#8217;s fragment D936A)<\/li>\n<li>BERIO: Sequenza No. 7 (Albrecht Mayer, oboe)<\/li>\n<li>BRAHMS\/GLANERT: Vier Ernste Gesange<\/li>\n<li>BRAHMS: Variations on a Theme of Haydn, op.56a<\/li>\n<li>BRAHMS: Concerto in A minor for violin, cello and orchestra, op.102<\/li>\n<li>BRAHMS: Symphony No 1, Op 68, C minor<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>10. BRAHMS: Symphony No. 2 in D major, op.73<\/p>\n<p>11. BRAHMS: Symphony No. 3 in F major, op.90<\/p>\n<p>12. BRITTEN: War Requiem<\/p>\n<p>13. BRUCH: Violin Concerto No 1<\/p>\n<p>14. CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No 1 Op 11 in E minor<\/p>\n<p>15. CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No 2 in F minor<\/p>\n<p>16. DUBUGNON: Concerto for Two Pianos and Double Orchestra (world premiere)<\/p>\n<p>17. MAHLER: Symphony No. 3<\/p>\n<p>18. MAHLER: Symphony No. 6 in A minor<\/p>\n<p>19. MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto No 2 in E minor Op 64<\/p>\n<p>20. POULENC: Concerto for Two Pianos<\/p>\n<p>21. RACHMANINOV: The Bells Op 35<\/p>\n<p>22. RACHMANINOV: Symphonic Dances<\/p>\n<p>23. RAVEL: Rhapsodie Espagnole (for two solo pianos)<\/p>\n<p>24. SCHUBERT: Symphony No 2<\/p>\n<p>25. SCHUBERT: Symphony No 9 in C &#8216;Great&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>26. SCHUMANN: Ouverture, Scherzo and Finale Op 52<\/p>\n<p>27. SCHUMANN: Cello Concerto in A Minor, Op 129<\/p>\n<p>28. SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor, op54<\/p>\n<p>29. SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 2<\/p>\n<p>30. SHOSTAKOVICH: Piano Concerto No 2<\/p>\n<p>31. SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No 11, Op 103, G minor (The Year 1905)<\/p>\n<p>32. STRAUSS: Don Juan<\/p>\n<p>33. STRAUSS: Burleske for piano and orchestra<\/p>\n<p>34. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben<\/p>\n<p>35. STRAUSS: Elektra<\/p>\n<p>36. TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No 4<\/p>\n<p>37. VERDI: Requiem<\/p>\n<p>38. WAGNER: Prelude, Lohengrin Act 1<\/p>\n<p>39. WAGNER: Prelude &amp; Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde<\/p>\n<p>40. WAGNER: Tannh\u00e4user<\/p>\n<p>41. WALTON: Symphony No. 1<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2012\/01\/12\/repertoire-report-semyon-bychkov-2011\/\" send=\"false\" layout=\"box_count\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"true\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Conductor Semyon Bychkov has been a stalwart of our annual Repertoire Reports for many years. This year\u2019s Report was culled from his very-user-friendly website by Monty in Phoenix. This year\u2019s Bychkov Report is remarkably consistent with past years- as always, he conducts quite a small number of works over the course of year: 41 this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[820,540],"class_list":["post-3661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-repertoire-reports","tag-repertoire-report","tag-semyon-bychkov"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3662,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661\/revisions\/3662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}