Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was undoubtedly one of the greatest composers, excelling in genres from the symphonic and opera to chamber music and ballet. Many people’s introduction to classical music has been through works like The Nutcracker or the cannonfire of the 1812 Overture. Tchaikovsky’s tortured personality and the need to hide his homosexuality from the world means more is often read into his music than is probably healthy, but he was able to spin melodies like few others. Inspiration never seemed a problem. As the composer wrote, “I sit down to the piano regularly at nine o'clock in the morning and Mesdames les Muses have learned to be on time for that rendezvous.”
Tchaikovsky may have been less than kind about Brahms’ music (they share the same birthday), but when they met, it seems the two composers got on rather well. Tchaikovsky wrote how “Brahms stayed an extra day to hear my [Fifth] Symphony and was very kind… I like his honesty and open-mindedness.” Therefore, it’s only right that the Fifth Symphony should head our playlist of Tchaikovsky’s greatest works.
1Symphony no. 5 in E minor, Op.64
“A complete resignation before fate,” wrote Tchaikovsky in his notebook when sketching out the scenario for his Fifth Symphony. The composer had used a Fate motif in his Fourth, but here it doesn’t hammer; rather it gnaws away at the listener, raising self-doubt and uneasiness. The horn solo in the second movement is a highlight, then, following a lilting waltz, the finale is a titanic struggle for triumph over adversity… even if that victory can be perceived to have something of a hollow ring.
2Eugene Onegin
Pushkin’s novel in verse Eugene Onegin has a special place in Russian hearts – generations still learn it at school. Tchaikovsky’s setting, which he described as “lyric scenes”, is wonderful, particularly the Letter Scene in which the young Tatyana pours out her heart to Onegin, only for him to gently reject her. Years later, the aloof Onegin meets her at a St Petersburg ball and falls head over heels in love. But she is now married to a prince and the tables are turned as she rejects him. It’s an opera that can be painfully moving.
3Symphony no. 6 in B minor, "Pathétique", Op.74
Bleak, desolate, filled with desperation and despair – that’s just a few ways to describe Tchaikovsky’s Sixth and final completed symphony. It premiered in October 1893, only nine days before Tchaikovsky’s death and is hence often tied to his biography, not least because of its unusual form, ending with a long, slow movement which fades into nothing. It stares deep into the abyss and, with the right performance, stares into the void.
4Violin Concerto in D major, Op.35
After a failed suicide attempt following the failure of his disastrous marriage, Tchaikovsky recuperated in Switzerland. He was visited by a young pupil, violinist Iosif Kotek, who inspired Tchaikovsky to compose a concerto which was so fiendishly difficult that its dedicatee, Leopold Auer, declared it unplayable. It wasn’t until two years later that Adolf Brodsky persuaded Hans Richter to play it with the Vienna Philharmonic, but the under-rehearsed premiere went badly. Eduard Hanslick described the concerto as music “whose stink one can hear”. Thankfully, it was later recognised for the masterpiece it is.