Post by erik on May 13, 2023 13:07:23 GMT -5
One of the most extreme works in the symphonic repertoire is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight: the sixth and final symphony of Russia's greatest composer.
Tchaikovsky: SYMPHONY NO. 6 IN B MINOR, OP. 74 (PATHETIQUE)
If such things as suicide notes ever existed in classical music history, then Peter Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony would certainly be one of those. Always self-critical throughout his time, despite the fact that he had already completed five symphonies and three ballet scores, the composer embarked on what would be called in the end his Pathetique Symphony in 1891 on a tour of the United States. But unsatisfied with what he came up with while on the other side of the Atlantic, he tore up the original sketches and actually started work on the symphony in February 1893, completing it six months later in August. The symphony is among the darkest and most extreme works of the Romantic era, not only because of its being in a minor key, but because the orchestration is, as was quite typical for Tchaikovsky, large, and full of bleakness and despair. The darkness emerges out of the introduction, though a lighter tone (if such a thing is possible) is exuded in the second movement, which is basically a typically Tchakovskian waltz. The third movement is a vigorous march of destiny, concerned with huge cymbal crashes in mind and in the deceptive key of G Major, concluding with the most triumphant of finishes. In other times, this would be a thunderous end of the work. But the composer gave full ennui to despair in the elongated finale in the home key of B Minor, and the whole thing ends in an almost all-consuming black hole. Tchaikovsky himself led the premiere of the Pathetique Symphony on October 28, 1893 in St. Petersburg; six days after that, he was found dead at his own hand, possibly because of the lifelong conflicts he had with his own homosexuality. Despite this, or perhaps in part because of it and its connection to the symphony, the Pathetique fast gained a place in the symphonic repertoire, a position it retains to this day.
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/LEONARD BERNSTEIN (Deutsche Grammophon)
Tchaikovsky: SYMPHONY NO. 6 IN B MINOR, OP. 74 (PATHETIQUE)
If such things as suicide notes ever existed in classical music history, then Peter Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony would certainly be one of those. Always self-critical throughout his time, despite the fact that he had already completed five symphonies and three ballet scores, the composer embarked on what would be called in the end his Pathetique Symphony in 1891 on a tour of the United States. But unsatisfied with what he came up with while on the other side of the Atlantic, he tore up the original sketches and actually started work on the symphony in February 1893, completing it six months later in August. The symphony is among the darkest and most extreme works of the Romantic era, not only because of its being in a minor key, but because the orchestration is, as was quite typical for Tchaikovsky, large, and full of bleakness and despair. The darkness emerges out of the introduction, though a lighter tone (if such a thing is possible) is exuded in the second movement, which is basically a typically Tchakovskian waltz. The third movement is a vigorous march of destiny, concerned with huge cymbal crashes in mind and in the deceptive key of G Major, concluding with the most triumphant of finishes. In other times, this would be a thunderous end of the work. But the composer gave full ennui to despair in the elongated finale in the home key of B Minor, and the whole thing ends in an almost all-consuming black hole. Tchaikovsky himself led the premiere of the Pathetique Symphony on October 28, 1893 in St. Petersburg; six days after that, he was found dead at his own hand, possibly because of the lifelong conflicts he had with his own homosexuality. Despite this, or perhaps in part because of it and its connection to the symphony, the Pathetique fast gained a place in the symphonic repertoire, a position it retains to this day.
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/LEONARD BERNSTEIN (Deutsche Grammophon)