Semyon Bychkov conducts Tchaikovsky Francesca da Rimini 

A really good performance of a major classic - one of Tchaikovsky's best. Wish that I had done something along those lines and thereby having an enriched life.

I appreciate the comments of listeners who are more advanced in music than I am. Makes me listen more carefully.

A very shivering Tchaikovsky tone poem, full of power, emotion, love and death. An amazing challenge for an orchestra and an a very underrated work. For me is better than 1812. Here Tchaikovsky goes deeper and shows another face where shadows walk among the flames. Francesca is an absolute masterpiece.

This is a notoriously difficult piece even for a professional orchestra because among other things there are treacherous syncopation pitfalls lurking around nearly every corner like Francesca's ghost. As Neil noted below at roughly 26 1/2 minutes this is about the longest performance I've never heard. I've never heard a finer student orchestra than the Royal Academy of Music Symphony and they played spectacularly but at the cost of losing some of the drama in the outer parts because I think tempos had to be slowed to enable them to pull it off. Still, I'm sure it was a tremendous learning experience for them and a rewarding one for Semyon Bychkov and the audience.

I love this tone poem so much. The whirlwinds of fire are horrible, and the love music cannot be more tender or beautiful. A stroke of genius for me is how the lovers' murder is depicted. The fanfare that represents public discovery (22:30) barely intrudes into their ecstasy, then all is over before you know it. Not a drawn out or clamoring death, as you expect, but one that's anticlimatic in every sense of the word. Then you're immediately plunged back into hell, into darkness, before the fire of their punishment starts up again. For the lovers, there are only two experiences, their present agony and their past love. The moment of death barely registers. It's amazing psychological insight I think. Kudos to the young musicians for playing this music wonderfully. Bravos!

Extraordinario!!!!!Belleza total!!!!Gracias por compartir.Desde Argentina, Buenos Aires.Bendiciones.

Young musicians play the old story of young lovers. That's good.

Замечательное исполнение.

UNBELIEVABLE performance !!!!! Just coming across this video now. What else can I say but "WOW".

The most amazing piece of art by Tchaikovsky - cool performance!

That's the perfect balance!!!!!!! Balance is one of the most challenging things for this piece..

27 minutes for this work indicates that it was as slow as it sounded. The young musicians gave all that was demanded of them (as far as one could tell) but the bar was a little low in places. Watkinder (below) has also commented on this shortcoming.

Not as well known as Romeo and Juliet or the 1812, but so dramatic and moving. A creditable performance. I actually prefer a slightly slower tempo, as it makes for a greater intensity.

Amazing..

Difficult to believe a student orchestra can play so well and movingly.

Bravo!!!!!!👏👏👏👏👏

No sé si es idea mía pero creo que la orquesta está tocando Francesca a lo menos un semitono más abajo que lo que indica la partitura lo que da a esta versión una sonoridad extraña, sin embargo en líneas generales la interpretación es muy correcta y al ser bastante lenta deja entrever detalles que en otras versiones se escapan

That little crescendo in the coda at 26:19 is something I've only heard Mravinsky do before, and it's very effective.

Why is the performance a half step off?

Entire video is focused on strings and conductor. What about percussions and brass so key to this piece? You might as well just listen to audio.

26:19 sounds really cool

Why is it E-flat minor instead of E minor, the original key?

At 26:11 we see the timpanist raising his timpani mallets very high! Dramatic indeed

This is a big one . Well done lost a bit of the dramatics at the beginning but really beautifully done.

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Greetings!! Is there anyone who knows the name of the Concertmaster/1st violinist of this orchestra? I've seen him before but I don't actually know his name ... Anyone?? Does the Royal Academy of Music symphony orchestra haves some website wherein I can find the names of all the players?? If you somehow know.. Please don't hesitate to tell me :'( I really need his name .....

I don't know if this is possible on a digital medium, but considering the slow tempi and the fact that this is tuned at a slightly lower pitch than most orchestras, is it possible that this is a recording playing back at a slower speed?

Note that the average age of the audience is around 3 times greater than the players. Ok it is a student orchestra but how depressing that most young people today just don't appreciate the World's greatest music and would sooner listen to rap crap or Justin Bieber etc. However it's their loss not mine.

Although these young performers are highly accomplished, what the performance ultimately lacks is fire in the outer sections (which is the fault of the conductor). If you want to see what an inspirational conductor can achieve with young musicians check out Manuel Lopez-Gomez with the Teresa Carreno Youth Orchestra. The audible humming of the conductor in the soulful middle section is merely an aggravation occasioning amusement in the young clarinettist who found it hard to keep a straight face (around 13:28).

The conductor, dressed in a catholic father's suit, wasn't demanding enough to the orchestra, esp the strings. In many instances there shd hv been stressed syllables along a musical phrase but there wasn't. End result: not colourfully nor dramatically played enough.

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