About the Music
Listen to excerpts and read about the key works in the festival
Symphonic Works:
Kalinnikov:
Symphony No.1
[1st
mvmt] [2nd
mvmt] [3rd
mvmt] [4th
mvmt]
[fact
sheet]
Performed on Saturday 1 November.
More information & tickets
Taneyev: Symphony No.4
[1st mvmt] [2nd mvmt] [3rd mvmt] [4th mvmt]
[fact sheet]
Performed on Wednesday 29 October
More information & tickets
Tchaikovsky letter to S. Taneyev, 27 March 1878
'Please,
dear Serge, do not see any shadow of annoyance in my defence of the Symphony; of course I should like you to be pleased with
everything I write, but I am quite satisfied with the interest you always show me. You cannot think how delighted I am with
your approval of Onegin. I value your opinion very highly, and the more frankly you express it, the more I feel its worth.
And so I cordially thank you, and beg you not to be afraid of overseverity. I want just those stinging criticisms from you.
So long as you give me the truth, what does it matter whether it is favourable or not?’
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.1 'Winter Daydreams'
[1st mvmt, exc.1] [1st mvmt, exc.2] [2nd mvmt] [3rd mvmt] [4th mvmt]
[fact sheet]
Performed on Wednesday 22 October
More information & tickets
Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony
[1st mvmt] [2nd mvmt] [3rd mvmt] [4th mvmt]
[fact sheet]
Performed on Wednesday 5 November
More information & tickets
Tchaikovsky letter to Taneyev,13 June 1885
'After
some hesitation I have made up my mind to compose Manfred, because I shall find no rest until I have redeemed my promise,
so rashly given to Balakirev in the winter. I do not know how it will turn out, but meantime I am very discontented. No! It
is a thousand times pleasanter to compose without any programme. When I write a programme symphony I always feel I am not
paying in sterling coin, but in worthless paper money.’
Tchaikovsky: Suite No.3
[Elegie, exc.1] [Elegie, exc.2] [Valse] [Scherzo] [Tema, exc.1] [Tema, exc.2]
[fact sheet]
Performed on Friday 7 November
More information & tickets
Tchaikovsky: Fantasy Overture, Romeo and Juliet
[excerpt 1] [excerpt 2] [factsheet]
Performed on Tuesday 28 October
More information & tickets
Ballet and Theatre
Stravinsky: The Fairy’s
Kiss
[Scene 1]
[Pas
de deux - Entree] [Pas de deux - Adagio] [Pas de deux - Coda]
[fact sheet]
Performed on Wednesday 22 October
More information & tickets
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Act 4
[excerpt
1] [fact
sheet]
Performed on Friday 31 October
More information & tickets
Tchaikovsky letter to Rimsky-Korsakov, 10 September
1875
'...you must know how I admire and bow down before your artistic modesty and your
great strength of character! These innumerable counterpoints, these sixty fugues, and all the other musical intricacies which
you have accomplished... are the exploits of a hero. I want to proclaim them to the world. I am astounded, and do not
know how to express all my respect for your artistic temperament. How small, poor, self-satisfied and naive I feel in comparison
with you! I am a mere artisan in composition, but you will be an artist, in the fullest sense of the word. I hope you will
not take these remarks as flattery. I am really convinced that with your immense gifts - and the ideal conscientiousness with
which you approach your work - you will produce music that must far surpass all which so far has been composed in Russia.
... The Opera Direction has commissioned me to write music for the ballet The Swan Lake. I accepted the work, partly because I want the money, but also because I have long had a wish to try my hand at this kind of music.’
Opera
and Choral
Tchaikovsky: Iolanta (concert performance)
[Excerpt 1] [Excerpt 2] [Excerpt 3] [Excerpt 4] [Excerpt 5]
[fact sheet]
Performed on Saturday 25 October
More information & tickets
Concertos
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto
No.2
[1st
mvmt] [2nd
mvmt] [3rd
mvmt]
[fact sheet]
Performed on Wednesday 5 November
More information & tickets
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
[1st mvmt] [2nd mvmt] [3rd mvmt]
[fact sheet]
Performed on Wednesday 29 October
More information & tickets
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.2
[1st mvmt, exc.1] [1st mvmt, exc.2] [2nd mvmt] [3rd mvmt]
[fact sheet]
Performed on Friday 7 November
More information & tickets
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.3
[exc.1] [exc.2] [exc.3]
[fact sheet]
Performed on Saturday 1 November
More information & tickets
Chamber Music
Tchaikovsky: String Quartet
No.1
Performed on Wednesday 29 October
Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No.2
Performed on Saturday 1 November
Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No.3
Performed on Wednesday 5 November
Tchaikovsky letter to Rimksy-Korsakov, 29 September 1876
‘You ask whether I have really written a third
quartet. Yes, it is so. I produced it last winter, after my return from abroad. It contains an ‘Andante funèbre,’
which has had so great a success that the quartet was played three times in public in the course of a fortnight.’
