# Elgar and Tchaikovsky



## Bevo (Feb 22, 2015)

Ever have one of those big-name composers whom you've heard of, and heard a piece or two of, yet you never really explored their music? As ashamed to admit it as I am, for me that composer was Elgar. It wasn't until recently that I really dove in to his musical output, and after hearing several of his pieces the first composer who came to mind, in terms of a similar style, was Tchaikovsky. Especially when it comes to orchestral music. I love it, because Tchaikovsky was the first Composer whose music I truly fell in love with. Now I'm not trying to say that neither one has a unique style or is indistinguishable from the other, but to me they have very similar qualities at times. The biggest thing is the lyricism of their music. Now I'm not referring to the quality of their melodies, but both use melodies that just seem to flow so naturally. I will admit that I still believe Tchaikovsky has the edge when it comes to the best melodies, but they both seem very similar and equal to me in terms of a natural flow.
The other major similarity I found is the Orchestration. That's one thing I love about Tchaikovsky is the lush sound of the strings, with build-ups of brass and full orchestral climaxes at just the right points. I feel this is a similarly perfected technique Elgar mastered. Anyways, Elgar is now one of my new favorites, but I was just curious if anyone else found the styles of these two to be similar as well.


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