Programme
Dmitri Shostakovich
Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77
— Intermission —
Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47
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Czech Philharmonic • Jiří Vodička
The Czech Philharmonic presents Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony with its Chief Conductor Semyon Bychkov who is internationally acclaimed for his interpretations of the Russian composer’s music. Written in the second half of the 1930s during Stalin’s purges in the Soviet Union, the Symphony earnt Shostakovich a half-hour standing ovation. Today it is regarded as one of the pinnacles of modern music.
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Performers
Jiří Vodička violin
Semyon Bychkov conductor
Czech Philharmonic
Rudolfinum — Dvořák Hall
“Before the war there probably wasn’t a single family who hadn’t lost someone, a father, a brother, or if not a relative, then a close friend. Everyone had someone to cry over, but you had to cry silently, under the blanket, so no one would see. Everyone feared everyone else, and the sorrow oppressed and suffocated us. It suffocated me too. I had to write about it.” — Dmitri Shostakovich
On 21 November 1937 in Soviet Leningrad, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 in D minor was heard for the first time. The atmosphere in the hall was tense, and not just because of the societal expectations that came with the premiere of a major symphonic work by a famous composer in those days. Everyone in attendance knew that nothing by the composer had been heard in public for two years because his music had displeased Stalin.
During the Great Terror, Shostakovich’s life hung in the balance, and many of his acquaintances, friends, and even relatives lost their lives. In Shostakovich’s instance, however, Stalin was aware that the composer was world famous and that his music was played in the most prestigious concert halls internationally. Stalin therefore did not want to destroy him but instead to change him or tame him. Whether Shostakovich let himself be tamed is up to the listeners to decide.
Since the Romantic era, classical music has been celebrated for its ability to encapsulate different moods, often including the most extreme. Dmitri Shostakovich further enriched that range with his notorious irony. He was also a composer who thought polyphonically, juxtaposing musical ideas in sharp and often unexpected contrasts. Moreover, seldom in his music are emotions or moods depicted unambiguously. Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony stands out for all these reasons. In the dark and dramatic first movement, there are flashes of lyricism and tenderness. A joyous smile is frozen on the lips of the satirical dance which proceeds it. The sorrowful and quiet Largo of the third movement is interrupted by heartrending cries of suffering, and in the frantic finale, festive optimism becomes strained and turgid.
Presented alongside the Fifth Symphony will be Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto in A minor performed by the Czech Philharmonic’s Concertmaster Jiří Vodička. Written in 1947-48 when all music was subject to censorship under the Zhdanov Doctrine, the concerto was deemed an ideologically problematic work and could not be performed publicly for several years. The great violinist David Oistrakh finally gave the concerto its very successful premiere in 1955 in Leningrad, and since then the work has been celebrated worldwide.
Performers
Jiří Vodička violin
Jiří Vodička, a concertmaster, soloist, and chamber player, is one of the most important and sought-after Czech violinists, but it would not have taken much for him to have devoted himself to Latin-American dance instead of the violin. At age 12 he finally decided to devote himself fully to playing the highest-pitched string instrument. About his dancing, he comments coyly: “I got something from doing that, possibly in the area of feel for rhythm.” At the unusually early age of 14, he was admitted to the Institute for Artistic Studies at the University of Ostrava, where he studied under the renowned pedagogue Zdeněk Gola. He graduated in 2007 with a master’s degree. Even earlier, he had attracted attention by winning many competitions including the Kocian International Violin Competition and Prague Junior Note. In 2002 he also won the prize for the best participant at violin classes led by Václav Hudeček, with whom he later gave dozens of concerts all around the Czech Republic. His success continued as an adult, for example winning first and second prizes at the world-famous competition Young Concert Artists (2008) held in Leipzig and New York.
A father of five, he is the owner of the Wassermann Media production company, which he founded during the Coronavirus pandemic. In the 2023/2024 season, he has entered his ninth season as the concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic. He has made solo appearances not only with Czech orchestras like the Prague Philharmonia or the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, but also with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Westphalia, and the Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra.
His professional activities are of greater breadth, however. In 2014, he recorded his debut solo album “Violino Solo” on the Supraphon label, and crossover fans can hear him on his worldwide Vivaldianno tour. He recently appeared at Prague Castle with Tomáš Kačo on the occasion of the state award presentation ceremony, he was formerly a member of the Smetana Trio (two more Supraphon CDs). He has performed chamber music with the outstanding Czech pianists Martin Kasík, Ivo Kahánek, Ivan Klánský, David Mareček, and Miroslav Sekera. Many of the concerts of the “Czech Paganini”, as Vodička is sometimes called because of his extraordinary technical skill, have been recorded by Czech Television, Czech Radio, or the German broadcasting company ARD. Besides all of that he teaches at the University of Ostrava.
The instrument he plays, a 1767 Italian violin made by Joseph Gagliano, came into his possession by what he calls “good old-fashioned patronage”. He received the violin for long-term use from the Czech Philharmonic’s former chief conductor Jiří Bělohlávek.
Semyon Bychkov conductor
In addition to conducting at Prague’s Rudolfinum, Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic in the 2023/2024 season, took the all Dvořák programmes to Korea and across Japan with three concerts at Tokyo’s famed Suntory Hall. In spring, an extensive European tour took the programmes to Spain, Austria, Germany, Belgium, and France and, at the end of year, the Year of Czech Music 2024 will culminate with three concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Among the significant joint achievements of Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic is the release of a 7-CD box set devoted to Tchaikovsky’s symphonic repertoire and a series of international residencies. In 2024, Semjon Byčkov with the Czech Philharmonic concentrated on recording Czech music – a CD was released with Bedřich Smetanaʼs My Homeland and Antonín Dvořákʼs last three symphonies and ouvertures.
Bychkovʼs repertoire spans four centuries. His highly anticipated performances are a unique combination of innate musicality and rigorous Russian pedagogy. In addition to guest engagements with the world’s major orchestras and opera houses, Bychkov holds honorary titles with the BBC Symphony Orchestra – with whom he appears annually at the BBC Proms – and the Royal Academy of Music, who awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in July 2022. Bychkov was named “Conductor of the Year” by the International Opera Awards in 2015 and, by Musical America in 2022.
Bychkov began recording in 1986 and released discs with the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio, Royal Concertgebouw, Philharmonia Orchestra and London Philharmonic for Philips. Subsequently a series of benchmark recordings with WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne featured Brahms, Mahler, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Strauss, Verdi, Glanert and Höller. Bychkov’s 1993 recording of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with the Orchestre de Paris continues to win awards, most recently the Gramophone Collection 2021; Wagner’s Lohengrin was BBC Music Magazine’s Record of the Year (2010); and Schmidt’s Symphony No. 2 with the Vienna Philharmonic was BBC Music Magazine’s Record of the Month (2018).
Semyon Bychkov has one foot firmly in the culture of the East and the other in the West. Born in St Petersburg in 1952, he studied at the Leningrad Conservatory with the legendary Ilya Musin. Denied his prize of conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic, Bychkov emigrated to the United States in 1975 and, has lived in Europe since the mid-1980’s. In 1989, the same year he was named Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris, Bychkov returned to the former Soviet Union as the St Petersburg Philharmonic’s Principal Guest Conductor. He was appointed Chief Conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra (1997) and Chief Conductor of Dresden Semperoper (1998).