Name: White Night in St. Petersburg
Start: 2015-09-27T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2015-09-27T00:00:00.000Z
Location: St Matthew-in-the-City

Organization

Admin

Ensemble Polymnia

Conductor

Sarah Bisley

Orchestra

Pianist

Rosemary Barnes

Piano

White Night in St. Petersburg

Auckland

New Zealand

St Matthew-in-the-City

White Night in St. Petersburg: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, L 86 Debussy (+2 More)

Public

Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, op. 21

Symphony No. 5

Matias Vergara Moyano

Approved

Chopin Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor

Ensemble Polymnia conducted by Sarah Bisley. Performed on  27th September 2015 at St Matthew-in-the-City, Auckland, New Zealand. Live recording by Franco Viganoni, www.viganoni.com.
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) 
Symphonies No. 5 in E Minor and No. 6 in  B minor, the “Pathétique”, are Tchaikovsky’s mature works, composed in 1888 and 1893 respectively. In 1893 he was in his prime, enjoying worldly success and adoration, yet within a matter of days after the premiere of his final symphony he was dead - in circumstances as mysterious and tragic as that of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Tchaikovsky’s achievement in musical history is to have shaped a profound and lasting musical idiom, which was rooted in Russian orthodoxy and became foremost in both Russian and Western Romantic music. To Igor Stravinsky, he was “the most Russian of us all”; “his own character so uncannily reflecting the introspective, darkly brooding richly emotional qualities which have come to characterize Russian music…” (Anthony Holden).

Born in the Eastern Ural Mountains, and having started life as a civil servant in St Petersburg, Tchaikovsky was fortunate in the patronage of two brothers who gave him lifelong support and promoted his works.They were Anton Rubinstein, who founded the St Petersburg Conservatory, and his brother Nikolay, who provided Pyotr Ilyich with protection and employment at his newly-founded Moscow Conservatory. Mihaly Balakirev, one of “the Five”, also played an important part in Tchaikovsky’s formation as a composer. 
Tribute must be made to Nadezdha von Meck, Tchaikovsky’s unfailing patroness and confidante from 1877, thanks to whom he was able to become the first professional composer in Russia.

Symphony No. 5 was first performed at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg on 17th November 1888, with the composer conducting. In his own notes about this work, and although he claimed that the piece had “no programme”, Tchaikovsky made jottings showing that the symphony had been inspired by feelings of “Murmurs, doubts, lament, reproaches…” which had been haunting him for months, together with his self-confessed preoccupation with Fate. What is now thought to have been a fairly self-indulgent way of life in his younger days as a homosexual, seems to have become a source of torment to him in his middle years. To quote Vladimir Ashkenazy, “It is a terrible irony that so much suffering and torment bequeathed us so much wonderful music.”

Yet in the same breath, and referring to the "Allegro con anima" following the dark and brooding opening "Andante" of the first movement, the composer poses the question, “Shall I cast myself into the embrace of Faith?” Although what we might call the opening “Fate” theme comes back to haunt us again and again, recalled in every movement of the Symphony, there is nevertheless an incredible Romantic yearning for life and an expression of feeling which shine through its creator, and are our priceless treasure.
Notes by Sarah Bisley

TCHAIKOVSKY, P.I. Symphony No. 5 in E minor, 1st movement

White Night in St. Petersburg by Debussy, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, P. I., Od (2015/2015), Dirigent Sarah Bisley, St Matthew-in-the-City, Auckland, New Zealand

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