Certainly one of history's colourful composers, Tchaikovsky (or Chaikovsky or Чайковский) is often remembered as a composer who found little favour with the Russian nobility (who frowned upon overtly emotional music or music with Western influence) or a closet homosexual who struggled to deal with his sexual orientation in a society that didn't tolerate it. He died from cholera which many musicologists believe he contracted on purpose to escape a loveless existence without exposing his family to the shame of suicide.
 Conspiracy theorists look to his final 6th Symphony 'Pathétique', translating as passionate or emotional rather than pitiful, and find clues leading some to believe this piece was essentially a musical suicide note...
But we're interested in Pyotr's 5th Symphony completed in 1888. Its full 45-minute grandeur is divided in to four movements and the final movement, Andante maestoso — Allegro vivace in E major and E Minor, is the subject of Dr Richard Jones' arrangement.
A reviewer for the Boston Evening Transcript regarding an early performance of the symphony, October 24, 1892, wrote:
"Of the Fifth Tchaikovsky Symphony one hardly knows what to say ... In the Finale we have all the untamed fury of the Cossack, whetting itself for deeds of atrocity, against all the sterility of the Russian steppes. The furious peroration sounds like nothing so much as a horde of demons struggling in a torrent of brandy, the music growing drunker and drunker. Pandemonium, delirium tremens, raving, and above all, noise worse confounded!"
Another reviewer for the Musical Courier, March 13, 1889, wrote: "In the Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony ... one vainly sought for coherency and homogeneousness ... in the last movement, the composer's Calmuck blood got the better of him, and slaughter, dire and bloody, swept across the storm-driven score."
Such reviews were not uncommon for Tchaikovsky's new works, but as before, what soured the critics won favour amongst the concert-going public.
This arrangement for brass band is fourteeen minutes of drama and tirmoil, exciting and challenging for conductor, band and audience. Click the link below to see and hear the full score though Scorch.
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 - Finale for Brass Band: NZ$100.00
Click For Full Product Details and Score Preview... |
Problem: Why do I pay a supplier here just to have them order it from abroad, wait for it to be printed, and then be sent over... this is the 21st century right? I don't want to wait for weeks or months!