# The I'm Addicted To Tchaikovsky Thread



## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

The I'm Addicted to Tchaikovsky Thread​







This thread is self-explanatory I think.

I remember the first time I heard Tchaikovsky. I thought he was a lightweight and I certainly didn't hear what the big deal was with his music. This piece was the dreaded "1812 Overture," which is one of the most horrid pieces of music I've heard from any composer around this time and it turned me off to everything Tchaikovsky wrote and pretty much closed me off to classical music for a long time.

Fast forward 15 years later and I'm writing this very thread. Who would've thought? Let me first say that my rethinking of Tchaikovsky was a very slow process, but I've been seriously listening to his music for months now off and on. This man wrote some seriously good music. I'm particularly fond of some of his darker pieces like "Symphony No. 6," "Hamlet," "The Voyevoda," "Fatum," etc. The man wrote some outstanding music. I also like two of his ballets "Swan Lake" and "Sleeping Beauty." I'm not too fond of "The Nutcracker." I also enjoy his concerti.

Anyway, share some of your thoughts of this truly great composer who's music has continued to survive in this ever-changing musical environment.


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## andruini (Apr 14, 2009)

A truly outstanding composer.. I really identified with his music early on in my musical development (not the 1812 Overture though.. I'm not particularly fond of it either..) His concerti are marvellous, the VC being at the pinnacle of the genre. I love the ballets, I love the Symphonies.. I agree some of his music can sound lightweight, but man, when he was emotionally charged, look out.. Some of the most moving music I've heard comes from him.. I'm glad you opened this thread up, it seems people overlook Tchaik a lot on this forum..


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

andruini said:


> A truly outstanding composer.. I really identified with his music early on in my musical development (not the 1812 Overture though.. I'm not particularly fond of it either..) His concerti are marvellous, the VC being at the pinnacle of the genre. I love the ballets, I love the Symphonies.. I agree some of his music can sound lightweight, but man, when he was emotionally charged, look out.. Some of the most moving music I've heard comes from him.. I'm glad you opened this thread up, it seems people overlook Tchaik a lot on this forum..


So very true. I think the main reason he's overlooked is for the very reason that some of his work is so popular, which in turn, some people may get tired of hearing or get burned out on. But if people take the time to explore his work in depth they will hear that he had a lot to say musically and he wasn't as "lightweight" as they have thought.

I hope this generates some more interest in his music. He's still a popular composer, but I would like for people to get beyond the works that we're all familar with and really hear what he can do.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

What's so horrid about 1812 Overture?


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Dim7 said:


> What's so horrid about 1812 Overture?


It's just drivel. I have never liked this piece. He wrote much better music.


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## Bach (Jun 2, 2008)

Romeo and Juliet is my favourite Tchaik.


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

I quite like the 1812, more for the opening Adagio than the bombastic sections. It reminds me of when I first started seriously getting into classical music in the early 80s, so I guess I'm coloured by nostalgia.


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## Kevin Pearson (Aug 14, 2009)

In the 1980s when I seriously went into another phase of collecting classical music it was the beginning of the CD era. To demonstrate the awesomeness of digital recordings I was played the 1812 by Erich Kunzel & The Cincinnati Pops orchestra. The firing of the canons was a memorable experience for me with the whole showroom shaking. I just had to buy my first CD player (Sony CDP101 the first Sony made and a good one too) and also a copy of the disc. So, consequently I have good memories but that version is the only one I really like.

Outside of the 1812 I do have to say that Tchaikovsky wrote some really fine and beautiful music. I particularly enjoy his piano concertos. violin concerto, symphonies and his string quartets.

Kevin


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I love the piano concertos. All three of them. They are my favourite Tchaikovsky pieces. Then the symphonies, violin concerto, poems, Onegin and some chamber music. What I can't really enjoy is most of the Nutcracker. 

I often laugh when see his english-written name. Looks like name of cop from action movie. Tchaikovsky and Hutch. Hey, Tchaikovsky... you shouldn't crash all those panda cars! You are suspended. Return your buzzer, now!


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

IMO Many of Piotr works deserve much more consideration that they have. His great piano sonata and many of his short piano pieces are beautiful, and his second and third suites for orchestra are some of the best music he
ever wrote.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

bassClef said:


> I quite like the 1812, more for the opening Adagio than the bombastic sections. It reminds me of when I first started seriously getting into classical music in the early 80s, so I guess I'm coloured by nostalgia.


In terms of smaller works, like symphonic poems, I think "The Voyevoda" is one of the best pieces of music Tchaikovsky composed. Have you actually heard this composition? I guarantee you that the "1812 Overture" will seem like a joke compared to this work.


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## Scott Good (Jun 8, 2009)

Mirror Image said:


> I guarantee you that the "1812 Overture" will seem like a joke compared to this work.


He didn't like it either.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Scott Good said:


> He didn't like it either.


Have you heard it, Scott Good?


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## Scott Good (Jun 8, 2009)

Are you asking if I have heard the 1812 Overture?

Of course!

I've played it at least 6 times. I once performed it with 2 orchestras, and canons going of in the harbour.

Ya, it's pretty silly, and as I said, Tchaikovsky didn't like it either - he agrees with you and I and others. I think he was quite embarrassed by it. But, there are a few sections that are ok - like the opening with the cello viola choir as was mentioned. Although it is not original music, as it is a traditional Russiian folk melody orchestrated.

For me, the 6th Symphony is one of the best Symphonies ever penned - I just love it. I'm goo goo for Tchaikovsky. Heard the violin concerto a few times this year. The 1st movement just rocks. The opening to the 1st piano concerto is epic.

And, I must admit, that I really do like The Nutcracker quite a bit. So colourful. Some of it is a bit dull, but, works much better with a solid dance. Not my favorite piece, but still not bad.

Tchaikovsky is very underrated as a crafts person. His harmonies, melodies, and orchestration are all smart, balanced, and quite personal. One only needs to hear a few bars of his music to hear his distinct signature. The overall harmonic motion of certain works are quite interesting as well - for instance the opening of the 4th symphony moves to the other end of the harmonic spectrum (Fmin to Bmin) - it's very clever.

Also, Tchaikovsky worshiped Mozart. And although he is often viewed as a hopeless Romantic, he was quite interested in clarity of form, and intelligent, well constructed melodies.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

My 10 most favorite Tchaikovsky works:

- Symphony No.6
- Eugene Onegin
- Piano Concerto No.1
- Swan Lake
- Romeo and Juliet
- Violin Concerto
- Pique Dame
- Serenade for String Orchestra
- Symphony No.4
- The Sleeping Beauty

I've never really checked out his chamber music. Any suggestions?


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Scott Good said:


> Are you asking if I have heard the 1812 Overture?
> 
> Of course!
> 
> ...


NO!! I"m not asking you about the "1812 Overture." Why in the world would I ask you about a piece of music I don't like? I was asking you about "The Voyevoda." You know, the symphonic poem? One of the last pieces Tchaikovsky composed. Anyway, this piece is amazing, that is, if it's played correctly like Pletnev and the Russian Nation Orchestra. Another reading of this piece I've heard was Abbado/CSO and it was WAY TOO FAST!!! My goodness the whole piece looses it's character if it's played too fast.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

jhar26 said:


> My 10 most favorite Tchaikovsky works:
> 
> - Symphony No.6
> - Eugene Onegin
> ...


You should checkout more of his symphonic poems, jhar26. I'd be interested in hearing what you've heard.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

jhar26 said:


> My 10 most favorite Tchaikovsky works:
> 
> - Symphony No.6
> - Eugene Onegin
> ...


Piano trio
String Quartets 1 and 3
Solo piano-
Doumka
Piano Sonata 1
The Seasons
Thème original et variations

to Mirror Image:

I've heard the Voyevoda (symphonic poem) in concert at SFS and didn't think much of it. I don't know, maybe the SFS just doesn't do a great job with it?


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## Scott Good (Jun 8, 2009)

Mirror Image said:


> I was asking you about "The Voyevoda."


Do you mean this piece? I'm a bit confused, as this is called an overture, and sounds like a young Tchaikovsky. And he did write an opera of the same name, so perhaps this belongs with the opera.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Air said:


> to Mirror Image:
> 
> I've heard the Voyevoda (symphonic poem) in concert at SFS and didn't think much of it. I don't know, maybe the SFS just doesn't do a great job with it?


Nah...the SFSO probably didn't do a good job with this piece, which is why you didn't think much of it. The only version I'll recommend is Pletnev/Russian National Orchestra on Deutsche Grammophon. I bought a 3-CD set of Tchaikovsky's symphonic poems with Pletnev conducting and it's simply outstanding. From start to finish, I was impressed and that set is partly the reason I'm re-evaluating Tchaikovsky's output.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Scott Good said:


> Do you mean this piece? I'm a bit confused, as this is called an overture, and sounds like a young Tchaikovsky. And he did write an opera of the same name, so perhaps this belongs with the opera.


Nope, that's not the correct one. Read this:

In 1867-1868, Tchaikovsky wrote an opera The Voyevoda, based on the play A Dream on the Volga, by Aleksandr Ostrovsky. Apart from the title, this opera has nothing in common with the symphonic ballad. [Taken from Wikipedia]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voyevoda_(symphonic_ballad)

I'm talking about the symphonic ballad that was published posthumously. That overture is from the opera with the same title. Do you understand now?


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## Scott Good (Jun 8, 2009)

Mirror Image said:


> Nope, that's not the correct one. Read this:
> 
> In 1867-1868, Tchaikovsky wrote an opera The Voyevoda, based on the play A Dream on the Volga, by Aleksandr Ostrovsky. Apart from the title, this opera has nothing in common with the symphonic ballad. [Taken from Wikipedia]
> 
> ...


Yep.

That piece on the Utube link is quite terrible - I can see why he trashed the opera!


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Scott Good said:


> Yep.
> 
> That piece on the Utube link is quite terrible - I can see why he trashed the opera!


Well, the symphonic ballad is an amazing piece of music that you should hear.


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## scytheavatar (Aug 27, 2009)

How did Tchaikovsky get the reputation for being "shallow" anyway? I think "inconsistent" would be a better way to describe his music, since a lot of times his writing is a bit sloppy.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

scytheavatar said:


> How did Tchaikovsky get the reputation for being "shallow" anyway? I think "inconsistent" would be a better way to describe his music, since a lot of times his writing is a bit sloppy.


His writing is a bit sloppy? Please site examples of his sloppiness.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Air said:


> Piano trio
> String Quartets 1 and 3
> Solo piano-
> Doumka
> ...


thank you.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Mirror Image said:


> You should checkout more of his symphonic poems, jhar26. I'd be interested in hearing what you've heard.


Marche Slave, 1812 Overture, Romeo and Juliet and Capriccio Italien.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

jhar26 said:


> Marche Slave, 1812 Overture, Romeo and Juliet and Capriccio Italien.


You haven't heard "Hamlet" yet? You've got to hear this piece.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Mirror Image said:


> You haven't heard "Hamlet" yet? You've got to hear this piece.


No, I've never heard "Hamlet."


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

jhar26 said:


> No, I've never heard "Hamlet."


So you haven't heard "Hamlet"?


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Aramis said:


> So you haven't heard "Hamlet"?


No, not yet.


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## Scott Good (Jun 8, 2009)

Mirror Image said:


> Well, the symphonic ballad is an amazing piece of music that you should hear.


I'll look into it - thanks.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

jhar26 said:


> No, not yet.


You will probably recognize it when you hear it. It's a deeply moving composition. Has a very dark, almost tragic feeling to it.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Scott Good said:


> I'll look into it - thanks.


Yes, you should check out this 3-CD set with Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra:


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I really like the _Souvenir de Florence_. A very engaging, warm & sunny piece.

I heard his _Piano Concerto No. 2_ on radio last week. Quite an innovative work, because the second movement is dominated by the orchestra, the pianist doesn't get to do much at all.

I also like his pieces inspired by C18th music, such as the _Mozartiana Suite _& _Rococo Variations_. This is a different side of Tchaikovksy, less emotionally bombastic & more cerebral. It's very stimulating listening...


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Andre said:


> I heard his _Piano Concerto No. 2_ on radio last week. Quite an innovative work, because the second movement is dominated by the orchestra, the pianist doesn't get to do much at all.


Indeed, someone could even think that it's a violin concerto, after listening to few various fragments.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

I figured I would bump this thread back up, because Tchaikovsky is one of the masters.

I have become totally in awe of Tchaikovsky's music lately. Such an amazing composer. I've been really digging this new Bernstein (Deutsche Grammophon) set I picked up. I have also become very interested in his ballets, especially "Sleeping Beauty," I have only owned one recording of (Previn/EMI) and it somehow didn't do much for me. Now, I have Pletnev and Dorati's readings on the way. I'm excited.

I've owned a lot of his music for awhile, but I think I'm now just starting to fully appreciate him even more.



Andre said:


> I also like his pieces inspired by C18th music, such as the _Mozartiana Suite _& _Rococo Variations_. This is a different side of Tchaikovksy, less emotionally bombastic & more cerebral. It's very stimulating listening...


But the bombastic and highly emotional Tchaikovsky is what I enjoy most. Many view "Swan Lake," "Nutcracker," and "Sleeping Beauty" as lightweight, but have they actually heard the complete ballets? I think not, because all three ballets contain some incredible, highly charged music. Probably some of the best ballets ever composed. Of course, I'm always a sucker for Ravel's and Bartok's great ballets, but Tchaikovsky was really something different.

Have you heard any of Delibes' ballets, Andre? You should definitely check them out sometime.


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## Padawan (Aug 27, 2009)

> But the bombastic and highly emotional Tchaikovsky is what I enjoy most. Many view "Swan Lake," "Nutcracker," and "Sleeping Beauty" as lightweight, but have they actually heard the complete ballets? I think not, because all three ballets contain some incredible, highly charged music. Probably some of the best ballets ever composed.


Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker is my most favorite ballet to date. I've seen it performed live several times and I think the version with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland is the best adaption I've viewed.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Padawan said:


> Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker is my most favorite ballet to date. I've seen it performed live several times and I think the version with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland is the best adaption I've viewed.


I find "Sleeping Beauty" to be the most satisfactory of all his ballets. There's some very incredible music found in this ballet.


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## bplary (Sep 13, 2009)

I just purchased this recently and am enjoying it immensely. I also enjoy his piano concerti, particularly with Emil Gilels at the piano.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

bplary said:


> I just purchased this recently and am enjoying it immensely. I also enjoy his piano concerti, particularly with Emil Gilels at the piano.


I find Karajan to be one of the weakest Tchaikovsky conductors I've heard. I've only listened to his Tchaikovsky set one time and was incredible disappointed with it. I just felt it was lacking a certain drama. Perhaps I'm missing something? I'll have to go back and re-listen later in the week.


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## ozradio (Oct 23, 2008)

I'm shopping for a recording of Pique Dame. What are some versions that include librettos? Amazon often doesn't indicate this.


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## Conor71 (Feb 19, 2009)

"The Originals" Opera re-issues all come with libretto and this one with the Kirov Orchestra should come with Libretto too - may be worth asking about good versions of this one on the Opera on CD thread in the Opera section .


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

jhar26 said:


> My 10 most favorite Tchaikovsky works:
> 
> I've never really checked out his chamber music. Any suggestions?


Hello jhar.

Piotr didn't write a great deal of chamber music but most is well worth listening to: the piano trio, the three string quartets and the original sextet version of Souvenir de Florence. Warner re-released on their Elatus imprint the quartets and SdF on a cheap 2-disc set featuring the Borodin Quartet with Yuri Yurov (va) and Mikhail Milman (vc) - originally available on Teldec. The piano trio is of special interest as it was one of the very few great works he wrote during the period when his creativity had relatively flatlined during the mental anguish he suffered after the fallout of his disastrous marriage and resigning his post at the conservatory. Curiously, the '1812' was also written during these lean years, presumably as a pot-boiler.

p.s. I've just realised that I am replying to a post that was typed some considerable time ago. Hope you had luck with other suggestions you may have received during that time!


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

I've recently discovered Tchaikovsky and I'm really liking what I'm hearing. Symphonies 5 and 6, piano concerto 1 and the Swan Lake are my favourites thus far.

Let me do a small "analysis" of Tchaikovsky's music and personality! I have no musical education, so I'll be using imagination as my tool. Please, please, don't be offended, dear music lovers. None of this is intended as "objective truth", this is as subjective as subjective gets. Also, I'm a beginner, a newbie, a hack. Maybe I would write different stuff after having listened to Tchaikovsky for 20 years. This is about my impressions right now.

Most of all, Tchaikovsky's music (which I equate with his artistic personality) sounds nervous, even neurotic. It sounds like someone who cannot relax, someone who is "on the edge" all the time. Like a caffeine overdose. The mind and the senses are sharp, eyes are glancing to and fro, left to right. A feeling of paranoia; the heart is racing, the mind is searching any cracks in reality, anything to get depressed over. If everything seems a-ok the mind is lost in suspicion and worrying; if something bad is percieved, the mind screams "I thought so!!" and releases the anguish from the heart in a torrent of hot blood. It is as if things are better when things are bad, because then things are how the paranoiac mind suspected them to be all along: if all is well and good, the mind cannot really believe it, and fears that the fragile house of cards shall topple at any second.

Tchaikosky wear his emotions up his sleeve. Because his senses and his mind are so alert, he experiences the present extremely strongly. He isn't reminiscing of the past or thinking about the future. No, he is in the present, feeling the current situation with all of his heart and responding with an almost exaggerated emotion. Because his emotions are the result of the present, they can change very suddenly. In this way, his emotions are "on the surface", but I don't mean that he's "superficial". His emotions are sincere and overwhelmingly powerful, still, they are chained to the present and thus "on the surface". Some people are like that, I've known a few.

We can contrast this choleric-melancholic temper to someone like Brahms (again, meaning the music of Brahms, which to me again equals his artistic personalityas a composer), who is also emotional, but whose emotions are much slower in their movements. Bramhs looks at a long piece of time: the past, the present AND the future. Then, he analyses this larger piece of time and responds with an emotion. In a way, Brahms' emotions are borne out of his mind, his thoughts; his symphonies are like a train of thoughts stemming from some subject that he thinks about, and the present is just a single facet of reality to him. In this way, I would say that the emotions of Brahms are "deep", not in the sense that they are philosophically profound (which they are, but that's another story) but in the sense that they move slowly in reaction to what goes on around him. Brahms is sort of mental, Tchaikovsky is sensual; they both are emotional.

Tchaikovsky's music is often thrown the label "lightweight", and I'll be the first to say that it's true. But there is nothing undesirable about it! Chaplin's films are "lightweight" as well, Renoir's, too, but it is nothing that takes away any artistic merits from them whatsoever. At the same time, Tchaikovsky's music is often full of sorrow, pain and heartache (again, like Chaplin's films). There is absolutely no contradiction in this. It is like someone is smiling and dancing either to please the rest of the world, or to sort of act out his/her part in the grand tragedy of life, while feeling enormous pain behind the facade.

All the dextrous fluttering and airy lightness in this music is exactly what suggests the use of senses and feeling the present to me. Some sections are incredibly light, as if they defy the laws of gravity. This gives a sense of abstractness, being apart from natural laws. This feeling is not quite so abstract that it takes us completely away from the human experience, to the realms of philosophy and the like, no, but rather, I'm thinking of human beings removed from Nature. Aristocrats living in their high halls, food just appearing on their plates... humans as sort of faeries, creatures of the soul and aether only. And this is indeed what creates the tragedy, because human beings cannot live like that. It's a beautiful dream, but it's false. A sort of make-believe, a mask, a theatrical play... and I think Tchaikovsky is all about masks and theatre, the archetypal sad clown that makes others laugh but cries behind the mask.

A charming characteristic about Tchaikovsky is that he is completely unafraid to exaggerate. He gives us all this over-the-top drama dressed in lace and feathers and he believes in it - at least he believes in it *right now*, when it's playing, in the present - but that's all that matters to his mindset. We get diamond chandeliers, ice, snow and sugar, dying princesses and dying butterflies and dying swans, last tangoes in Paris, farewells on the balcony, eternal love and eternal sorrow, heartbreak and suicide. It's all straight out of a teenage girl's diary. And none of it seems false - wait a minute, ALL of it seems false in a way - but that's just the trick. It's completely true and completely false at the same time, like art and life in general.

His melodies are much the same: so sweet and perfect that they become almost nauseating. The sweetness is the dream, the abstract; the nausea is the ugly reality lurking behind the corner. He never presents us the ugliness directly, though - he shows us how the protagonist responds to it. But that response is also polished for maximum beauty. Sort of like Tarantino violence, blood sputters out in beautiful geysers that have nothing to do with real violence. When Tchaikovsky gets violent, like in the fourth movement of the 5th symphony, he overdoes it so heavily that it gets abstract again. I'm also reminded of German expressionist cinema: nothing is real which paradoxically makes everything more real.

This relationship with the abstract and the unreal makes Tchaikovsky seem markedly less Russian than his contemporaries. He doesn't feel very Russian at all to me. With the opulent Rimsky-Korsakov and the grotesque Mussgorsky, one can almost smell the incense, the wood smoke, the spruce resin and the peat, and see Tarkovsky's "Andrei Rublyov" (the greatest Russian film ever in my opinion) roll before one's eyes once again. With Tchaikovsky, we can perhaps think of decadent nobility, the boyars, growing ever more fragile and decrepit in their grand castles, looking from their windows to the fields where the serfs work in the evening sun, with a strange mixture of pity and envy... but I think that Tchaikovsky has made a conscious decision to shut those windows forever and to live on in the grand gloom and unreal wonder of the evening ball, trapped in the cycle of love, duty, heartbreak, disappointment and death.

Well, that's about it. If you're feeling angry about something I wrote, please take a look at my second paragraph again that has all the apologies and disclaimers, and count to ten. If you still feel angry after that, feel free to post to mock and laugh at my stupidity.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

jhar26 said:


> I've never really checked out his chamber music. Any suggestions?


Try the three string quartets and the piano trio. He also wrote a large number of beautiful songs which are well worth hearing.

I have always had a soft spot for the poor neglected Symphony No 3 (_Polish_). It is Tchaikovsky's (why DOES the English version of his name have to have a 'T' at the beginning??) only major-key symphony and throughout shows its close provenance to the ballet _Swan Lake_.

Sadly, the _Manfred_ Symphony - one of Tchaikovsky's very best works - is still largely neglected. It was written between the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, uses a very large orchestra (including organ) and lasts for very nearly an hour. I have always been a huge advocate of this work and would urge anyone not familiar with it to give it a try.

The 1812 is drivel, pure and simple - even Tchaikovsky himself thought so.

The incidental music _The Snow Maiden_ is beautiful and well worth exploring, as is the purely choral _Liturgy of St John Chrysostom_. The _Marche Slav_ used to be heard occasionally, but seems to have fallen out of favour in recent years.

Finally, there are a couple of recordings of the original version of _Romeo and Juliet_, which is quite different to the version we know now in its revised form. Although Tchaikovsky was wise to revise it, he cut some interesting fugal passages in the central fight section which I wish he'd re-worked and left in.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

You're quite right about what you say Xalto. Tchaikovsky is the musical extrovert - in all of his music he was always trying to _express_ his deepest emotions, in ways that the listener could easily understand. Not all of his music is so neurotic as the 6th symphony or the 1st piano concerto.. if you listen to _The Nutcracker_, _The Seasons_, _Marche Slave_, _Sleeping Beauty_, and so on, you will find that his single most outstanding characteristic is his ability to create lovely, memorable melodies. He also was not the greatest at development of themes. What differentiates him from a pop tune writer is his ability to take those lovely melodies and place them in dramatic context in a larger form.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

If you don't know his operas, you don't know Tchaikovsky.

His operas show his very soul.... His Russian soul sometimes (opritchnnik),






his love for France others (The Orleans maid).





.

I bought all his operas and many on DVD. They<re awesome!

Opera rules!

Martin Pitchon


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## Sebastien Melmoth (Apr 14, 2010)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> _If you don't know his operas, you don't know Tchaikovsky._


I agree.

Also, his chamber music is much overlooked: his string quartets, piano trio, violin sonata (Souvenir d'un lieu cher), and songs--although his string sextet does get some play.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*Tchaikovsky loved human voice*

I have his complete songs (5CD) a **** by Naxos, afterwards, I bought good recordings and historical: Kozlovsky, Lemeshev...He knew how to treat human voice...He was a magician!

Tchaikovsky is the Russian Mozart!


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