Post by erik on Jul 8, 2023 20:12:05 GMT -5
Peter Tchaikovsky's First Symphony, sub-titled "Winter Dreams", finds its way into this (ironically) early summer 2023 edition of the Classical Works Spotlight.
Tchaikovsky: SYMPHONY NO. 1 IN G MINOR, OP. 13
With his ability to combine many traditional Russian folk melodies with the traditionalist four-movement structure of many Austro-German symphonies from Mozart to Brahms, Peter Tchaikovsky managed to make a mark in the Classical world in the form of the symphony. But a large part of that centers on the final three symphonies, nos. 4, 5, and 6; and not too much focus goes to the earlier ones. This was true of his official First Symphony, in G minor, which he composed in 1866. He composed it while a student at the St. Petersburg Conservatory; and he sought out the opinion of his teachers Nikolai Rubinstein and Nikolai Zaneda. Unfortunately for the composer, they rejected it, insisting it had to be revised before it ever got a hearing at the Conservatory. Even with those revisions, it wasn’t heard until December 1883. The symphony indicates some of Tchaikovsky’s issues with symphonic form (one criticism being that his symphonies were sometimes “too balletic”, while the three ballets he composed were “too symphonic”). However, its 40-mniute running time does reflect the way Tchaikovsky can portray the snowy landscape and feelings of a deep Russian winter. With the exception of the use of cymbals, bass drum, trombones and a single tuba in the epic fourth movement, the “Winter Dreams” symphony sounds close to a traditionalist Austro-German symphony, which is what may have caused a lot of consternation among such colleagues as Rubinsin, Zanega, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, that Tchaikovsky had somehow been “compromised”. Tchaikovsky’s later symphonic efforts, however, were to show the world in general, and Russia in particular, that he had his own style that needed to be contended with.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/CLAUDIO ABBADO (Sony Classics)
Included:
SUITE FROM “THE NUTCRACKER”
Tchaikovsky: SYMPHONY NO. 1 IN G MINOR, OP. 13
With his ability to combine many traditional Russian folk melodies with the traditionalist four-movement structure of many Austro-German symphonies from Mozart to Brahms, Peter Tchaikovsky managed to make a mark in the Classical world in the form of the symphony. But a large part of that centers on the final three symphonies, nos. 4, 5, and 6; and not too much focus goes to the earlier ones. This was true of his official First Symphony, in G minor, which he composed in 1866. He composed it while a student at the St. Petersburg Conservatory; and he sought out the opinion of his teachers Nikolai Rubinstein and Nikolai Zaneda. Unfortunately for the composer, they rejected it, insisting it had to be revised before it ever got a hearing at the Conservatory. Even with those revisions, it wasn’t heard until December 1883. The symphony indicates some of Tchaikovsky’s issues with symphonic form (one criticism being that his symphonies were sometimes “too balletic”, while the three ballets he composed were “too symphonic”). However, its 40-mniute running time does reflect the way Tchaikovsky can portray the snowy landscape and feelings of a deep Russian winter. With the exception of the use of cymbals, bass drum, trombones and a single tuba in the epic fourth movement, the “Winter Dreams” symphony sounds close to a traditionalist Austro-German symphony, which is what may have caused a lot of consternation among such colleagues as Rubinsin, Zanega, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, that Tchaikovsky had somehow been “compromised”. Tchaikovsky’s later symphonic efforts, however, were to show the world in general, and Russia in particular, that he had his own style that needed to be contended with.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/CLAUDIO ABBADO (Sony Classics)
Included:
SUITE FROM “THE NUTCRACKER”