Tchaikovsky - Symphony 4, 4th movement

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The Russian composer P.I. Tchaikovsky has always been a Romantic composer who truly fascinates me. He was born on May 7th 1840. In his homeland, his oeuvre was considered too 'European'. However, he succeeded to combine both West-European and Russian musical elements in his work.

Trademark: Sentimental melodical phrases, big contrasts, grandeur and majesty, complexity, (at least a touch of) seriousness, references to Russian folk songs.

In my opinion he is the best composer for wind instruments in his orchestral works. It's obvious that a well played delicate violin can move people very easily, but Tchaikovsky manages to give me the chills by the way he uses the wind instruments in his symphonies. One good example is the 4th movement of his 4th symphony.

I have searched on Youtube for the best versions of this movement and chose two of them to write about. Not to decide which one is better, but to sum up the differences.

Michael Tilson Thomas/San Fransisco Symphony Orchestra

(Watch the performance here)

The first measures are an explosion of vigour and strength.

The balance between the different instruments is very good. The bass notes stand out and form a good outline for the whole orchestra. As the musicians rush fluently through the movement, we experience great contrasts. The strings also do a good job on articulation and uniformity. The wind instrument section and the percussionists are incredible.

A point of criticism can hardly be found, it's an impeccable, intense performance!

Herbert von Karajan/Berliner Philarmoniker

(Watch the performance here)

The first thing that stands out is the incredibly high tempo and energy, which makes it sound as if Karajan and the Berliner 'attack' Tchaikovsky. It sounds as if they almost lost their self-control in a good way. The contrasts are enormous and are just on the border line: piano is almost a pianissimo, a fortissimo almost a fortisissimo. Karajan clearly wanted his orchestra to push their limits. And he succeeded extraordinarily!

Compared to the previous version, Karajan and the Berliner play the movement more fierce and tumultuous, with more feeling. In my opinion, he definitely beats Michael Tilson Thomas in terms of interpretation, but not in terms of flawlessness, depth and uniformity.

Choosing which one was best is not the point of this article though. Everybody has their own preferences and priorities when it comes to music.

A performance is good if a musician does credit to the composer instead of attracing attention to himself in first place. MTT and Karajan obviously understood Tchaikovsky's intentions when he wrote this movement. The performances are majestic, turbulent and thrilling, both in their own way.

Source of the picture: wikimedia commons