"This box set with 9 SACDs is a document of the collaboration between Semyon Bychkov and the WDR Sinfonieorchester on the highest level of sound quality and musical standards. Works by Rakhmaninov (The Bells, Symphonic Dances), Strauss (Elektra, Alpensinfonie, Till Eulenspiegel), Wagner (Lohengrin) and Verdi (Messa da Requiem) are a demonstration of the capability of the orchestra with and without choir and soloists. Semyon Bychkov was born in 1952 in Leningrad, today St. Petersburg, as a child of Jewish parents. Already in 1973 he won the Rakh mani nov-Con du ctors-Contest. Restrictions due to his political attitude led him to his emigration to the US in 197 5. There he received his first engagements as a conductor with different orchestras. Since 1989 he was musical director of the Orchestre de Paris, since 1989 of the Dresdner Se mperoper and at the same ti me of the WDR Si nfoni eorchester Cologne. Since 2018 Bychkov is now director of the Tschechische Philharmonie Prag. Many recordings show his productivity."

Elektra: Deborah Polaski (Elektra), Felicity Palmer (Klytämnestra), Anne Schwanewilms (Chrysothemis), Graham Clark (Aegisth), Franz Grundheber (Orest)

Lohengrin: Johan Botha (Lohengrin), Adrianne Pieczonka (Elsa), Falk Struckmann (Telramund), Petra Lang (Ortrud), Kwangchul Youn (King Heinrich), Eike Wilm Schulte (Herald)