The Second Piano Concerto and the fateful Fourth Symphony.
Tchaikovsky speaks to the heart with candid feeling, he caresses the ear with glorious melody, he lifts the soul with buoyant rhythms. And yet he lived a tragic life. Perhaps, says Ashkenazy, it was his suffering that gave the world such great music.
This concert is a Tchaikovsky immersion, beginning with his Second Piano Concerto. This concerto is known for an exquisitely intimate moment - just the piano, a violin and a cello - that nestles like a pearl in its flamboyant surrounds.
The concerto shares the program with Tchaikovsky's greatest symphony, the Fourth, with Fate at its dramatic heart.
TCHAIKOVSKY
Piano Concerto No.2
Symphony No.4
Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor
Garrick Ohlsson piano
AUDIO PLAYER LISTING
Track 1 - TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No.2: 2nd movement
Track 2 - TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No.2: 3rd movement
Peter Jablonski (piano) with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit
DECCA ELOQUENCE 480 0482
Track 3 - TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No.4: III Scherzo
Track 4 - TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No.4: IV Finale
Russian National Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Pletnev
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 00289 477 8699
Audio kindly supplied by Silver Partners Universal Music