Semyon Bychkov conducts Shostakovich and Dvořák — With Karen Gomyo

What better way for the Czech Philharmonic to open their 131st season than with a symphony regarded “among the greatest and purest examples of [the] art form since Beethoven” (Sir Donald Francis Tovey) — Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7, conducted by world-renowned maestro Semyon Bychkov. The somber, almost tragic Seventh reflects the innermost meanderings of the Czech composer’s soul, without the folkloric influences of his preceding Slavic period. The dark, introspective atmosphere of the symphony is foreshadowed by the concert opener, Shostakovich’s heartbreaking Violin Concerto No. 1. Japanese-born Canadian violinist Karen Gomyo brings her sensitivity of expression and flawless technique to one of the most profoundly emotional and haunting musical reflections of an artist’s life under the oppression of Stalin’s regime. Though originally composed in 1948, the concerto couldn’t be published until seven years later due to Shostakovich’s denunciation by the regime, in which time he revised the original score alongside violin master David Oistrakh, to whom Gomyo does justice in this captivating performance.

Photo © Petra Hajská