Yuri Bashmet at the National Philharmonic - standing ovations!

On October 13th this year, in the Concert Hall of the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, the Polish audience had the exceptional opportunity to listen to one of the greatest living violists Yuri Bashmet with the chamber orchestra 'Soloists of Moscow' and the outstanding Polish violinist Agata Szymczewska.

The only concert in Poland, organized thanks to Gazprom and EuRoPol GAZ S.A., met with great interest - evidenced by the long queues lined up at the ticket offices, despite all tickets being sold out a month before the concert. Many distinguished guests from the world of politics, business, culture, and art attended this exceptional musical feast. Especially for this occasion, the Vice President of Gazprom, Alexander Medvedev, flew to Warsaw.

Musicians played interpretations of works by Bach, Mozart, Paganini, and Tchaikovsky on historic, borrowed Italian instruments, including famous Stradivarius. The outstanding encores of the artists ended with long standing ovations.



It should be added that the representation of the CameralMusic portal had the pleasure of attending the concert. The sound of the orchestra and its diversity made a big impression. Closing your eyes, you could feel the weight, that the entire symphony orchestra - the soft-sounding viola of Bashmet at times seemed like a 'clarinet-flute', and the individually cast double bass with the support of several cellos could hit the low tones like a good hard rock band. The chamber ensemble reminded of the great skill of each musician, the solo parts, and the perfectly played dialogues between the instruments.
The orchestra, in line with what one of the jurors of the program suggests, in which stars try to dance, started with Bach, more precisely with the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3:

(a slightly more baroque video by Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra)
The second piece is Mozart's Concert Symphony KV 364 below performed by the Vienna Philharmonic.

A very pleasant combination of the beautifully presented Agata Szymczewska and her delicate but very expressive violin with the amazing experience of Bashmet, who while performing this piece also conducted the orchestra. He was able to wait until the last moment to show what seemed quite obvious entrances to the oboes, only to catch the viola at the last moment and easily synchronize his part.
Then a short break, return to the hall and first a solo performance by Mr. Viola in the viola arrangement of Paganini's A minor quartet. Then the serenade for strings by Pyotr Tchaikovsky made a big impression - here Bashmet as a conductor - played wonderfully, with flair, a nice interpretation, and a Slavic soul of the ensemble ;)
Here is part 4 performed by the UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra

At the end, 2 encores - an aria on the G string, which although played in 100 thousand ways from the Baroque, through jazz, rock, weddings, or funerals may seem unattractive, but perfect execution, great sound, and beautiful surroundings made it very enjoyable. As the second encore, we heard Alfred Schnittke's Polka. Although somewhere behind me I heard 'Polka is Czech' - someone wanted to shine - this time the ensemble shone, which was bid farewell with long standing ovations :) and below the poor quality, but the performance of this very piece by J.Bashmet's orchestra on another occasion: