Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor
1. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso
0:00
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky begins his First Piano Concerto (written in 1875) with a sharp call of a French horn. The piano interrupts with gracefully undulating sounds. In a later version, Tchaikovsky changed these to solid blocks of sound.
0:53 pizzicato
While the strings pluck softly, the piano gallops heroically over them. This first melody, with its generous, swelling sound, is only a prologue. Later in this work, it disappears completely.
1:56 high, fast, soft piano
Tchaikovsky, who was homosexual, seems to express his delicate and elegant side in his piano part too. Brutal accents alternate with pearly, sensitive solos alternate.
2:31 Block chords piano
Tchaikovsky - already a successful composer in 1875 - was insecure. He submitted this work to pianist Nikolai Rubinstein, who so insulted and humiliated him that he vowed not to change a single note.
3:26 horns
Suddenly, we find ourselves at a funeral. Solemn horns reverberate, interrupting the heroic melody. From afar, a funeral orchestra seems to be marching in.
4:22 piano fast
The piano will not let itself be led astray by the solemn mood. The melody starts bumping away erratically. The orchestra can barely keep up with his hopping rhythms.
5:00 flute melody
Freed from the orchestra or conductor, the melody moves like a wild horse, always roaring to respond with a new, virtuoso whim. It is not easily caught!
5:49 pizzicato accompaniment
The version of the concerto we are hearing is the second one, from 1879. Despite his determination to change a single note of it, Tchaikovsky revised the concerto twice, but on his own terms.
6:31 piano second theme
Tchaikovsky's delicate piano part is indebted to Chopin's equally tender piano music. In this gentle melody, the pianist seems to be breathing in and out wistfully.
7:27 piano arpeggios
Gliding sounds like that are known as ‘arpeggios’, in short: playing like a harpist. Composers often use them to give body to and envelop their piano melodies.
8:22 orchestra away
In classical piano concertos, there is often a dialogue between piano and orchestra. Here, the rendezvous is far from peaceful. The orchestra is a suffocating opponent the pianist wants to escape.
9:19 piano and flute
To dispel rumours of his homosexuality, Tchaikovsky married Antonina Milyukova a few years after the premiere of this work. Though they remained married until his death, they were together only 6 weeks.
10:30 timpani
There is nothing left of the sighing, delicate melody. Nervously, the orchestra pumps forward with a parody of the piano melody. The orchestra and the piano just can't get along.
11:21 piano solo soft
The piano sinks into a daydream. Dazed, each fragment of the melody seems to wander further away from its origins. Later composers like Scriabin would deepen this dreamy style.
12:18 strings
Now it is the piano's turn to parody the violins. As they gently try to swell, the piano storms over them, as if to prove its power.
13:03 piano high
After being rejected by his teachers, Tchaikovsky gave this work to pianist Hans von Bülow for his tour of the United States. While it was a great success with the public, the critics reacted coolly.
13:50 pizzicato accompaniment
A quiet agreement is reached between the piano and the orchestra as to who will accompany and who may take the lead for a while. After they have long drowned each other out, there is a glimmer of hope.
14:39 violins and flute melody
Tchaikovsky is famous for his melodies; this is very much evident in this piece of music. Even today, many can whistle along to his ballet music for ‘The Nutcracker’, ‘Swan Lake’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’.
15:20 piano and violins melody
If there was a conflict, it has now been resolved. The flowing sounds of the piano add depth to the orchestra, while the orchestra has the upper hand on the melodic side.
16:23 piano solo
Everything now sounds so peaceful, that the orchestra gives the soloist his moment. The pianist, too, is delighted with the interaction, and dares to dream away for a while in this solo.
17:08 piano trill figure
Although Tchaikovsky was not a fantastic pianist, he was surrounded by a number of them. Both his teacher Anton Rubinstein and Anton’s brother Nikolai (who mocked this work) were concert pianists.
18:02 left-hand melody
In the meantime, the soloist has regained the energy he had at the beginning. Where his furious fever initially represented a competition with the orchestra, here it turns into a plea for a reunion.
19:13 fast runs
The piano seems to wink quickly and flashily at the orchestra. Then it calmly joins in with rippling notes that serve as accompaniment for the oboe.
20:21 tutti with timpani
However heroic the beginning of this movement, the soloist and orchestra now realise that heroism is not a competition. They no longer interrupt one another, but help move to a glorious conclusion.
2. Andantino semplice
0:00
There is not much left of the first movement’s showdown. Gently plucking strings accompany a lively flute. Tchaikovsky shows his most soothing side here: the melody sounds like a lullaby.
0:40 piano
The pianist’s virtuoso fireworks of the first movement seem te be melting away now. Emotions are more essential than technique in this well-ordered solo melody.
1:20 oboe melody
Tchaikovsky has the oboes and clarinets - and later the piano - sound similar to a Ukrainian bagpipe, a volynka. Like a bagpipe, we hear nasal bassoons as a ‘drone’ (sustained tone).
2:16 cello melody
Russian colleagues disapproved of Tchaikovsky's 'too Western' style. What's more, the composer was not of purely Russian descent: his mother was French and his father Ukrainian.
3:18 piano fast
What suddenly appears like a mercurial wandering light in a swamp is in fact a French cabaret song. We hear the melody in the strings: ‘You must have fun, dance and laugh!’
4:13 piano away
The piano once again proves to be an unpredictable playing partner. With its fast runs, it challenges the orchestra, which can't keep up. It's not about serious competition but a wild game of catch.
5:04 piano trill
Tchaikovsky instructs the musicians to play this movement ‘semplice’ (simply). The melody needs no embellishment to be simply hummed or whistled after.
6:01 piano gone
Despite the vitality in the middle of this movement, this lullaby seems to have ist effect - not least on the piano itself. Soloist and orchestra end this second movement with wavering, calm sounds.
3. Allegro con fuoco
0:00
The music that can now be heard stems from a Ukrainian folk song: ‘Ivanka, come out to sing as spring begins’. The rhythm is similar to the Polish folk dance, the mazurka.
0:45 tutti without piano
The orchestra stomps along in a hard-edged folk dance, accompanied by pounding timpani. After the calm middle movement, is the rivalry of the graceful piano and the energetic the orchestra back?
1:24 piano arpeggios
Although Tchaikovsky called himself a ‘thoroughly Russian’ composer, much of his music reveals Ukrainian influences. He spent a lot of time in Ukraine and was inspired by its folk music.
2:09 soft violins
The violins now seem to understand the piano’s intention in the first movement. Whilst the orchestra could barely follow the rhythm in the first movement, the violins now take the lead in the repetition.
3:02 piano solo
If there is one thing that Tchaikovsky's music is not, it is 'folksy'. He came from a wealthy, cosmopolitan environment. Consequently, his music always tends more towards delicacy and sentiment.
3:50 beginning theme
Tchaikovsky understood that the pianist Nikolai Rubinstein considered this work to be ‘unplayable’. However, after initial reservations, Rubinstein played it brilliantly.
4:54 Orchestra away
Russia claims Tchaikovsky as a national symbol, and used this work as a ‘neutral’ anthem after being banned from the Olympics. And yet it is full of foreign influences: Ukrainian, French and German.
5:56 orchestra back
The bitterness between piano and orchestra has completely disappeared. The skilfulness of the soloist and the power and sonority of the orchestra only complement each other.
6:30 fast tempo
Tchaikovsky's music is rarely short of fireworks, and this is no exception. His First Piano Concerto is brought to a worthy conclusion as piano and orchestra build to a triumphant, joyous climax.
Text: Rick van Veldhuizen