Mozart/Shostakovich: BBCSO/Bychkov ****
Royal Albert Hall, 31st July 2015
Let’s not beat about the bush: the BBC Symphony Orchestra wouldn’t rank among my top ten orchestras in the world. It’s a dab hand at contemporary music, a staple of its regular diet at the Barbican, but for bread-and-butter repertoire it can churn out some variable performances. Semyon Bychkov, however, has a transformative power over its players and in a monumentally impressive account of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony that filled the vast expanses the Royal Albert Hall, Bychkov made the BBCSO truly sound one of the world’s greats.
Read the full review on Bachtrack.