Tchaikovsky's extremely personal 5th symphony was written in deep despair over the indignities of life. But despite the dark undertone, the musical light shines through almost blindingly in this musical portrait of fate, which is flanked by Barber's cinematic-dramatic masterpiece for organ and orchestra, as well as Rheinberger 's sumptuous organ concerto.
Part of the Odense International Organ Festival
You can read what Ole B. Kiilerich wrote about Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, the last time we played the work, here:
It was no easy lot that Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky had drawn in life. As a gay man in nineteenth-century Russia and a public figure at the same time, the foundation was laid for a life of constant despair, self-reliance, longing and desperation. A very large part of his production is clearly marked by the depressive state of mind, while a correspondingly large part shines with optimism and the belief in the love of an artistic soul who had such rich access to express the finest human emotions and relationships in tones.
The idea of and the sound of fate is omnipresent in the symphony, not least because of the fateful leitmotif, a kind of idée fixe as in Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. It begins the entire symphony in gloomy clarinets and subsequently appears in all four movements. The transformation that theme undergoes through the symphony shows in a way the way from darkness to light, but like the symphony and Tchaikovsky's life in general, the light never manages to completely displace the well-grown shadows.
The 1st movement starts with the iconic melody of fate deep in the clarinets, and also in the second major theme, fate knocks audibly on the door with an insistent rhythm that grows large and menacing. Although the musical undertones are generally dark, there are actually glimpses of light already here: optimistically rural side themes, ballet-dancing grace and beautiful melodies enough to make most fellow composers pale with envy. But despite all these many attempts to rise above the heavy grasp of fate, the 1st movement ends exactly as dark and despairing as it started.
The second movement also sets off heavy and sad with what later turns out to be the accompaniment to one of the most beautiful melodies ever written. It is played in the solo horn – an instrumental sound that brings feelings of hope, human magnanimity and all that is good from the sea, and which in movies is always used right where the plot turns and we just know it's going to end well – and this theme, perhaps the most famous horn solo in the entire repertoire, must soften even the most hardened critic of Tchaikovsky's sometimes highly emotional style. There is no hint of blabbering romance here, just musical and melodic superiority that makes it difficult to comprehend that the man apparently often could not understand the quality of what he had created. However, Tchaikovsky does not let us forget the undercurrent of seriousness in the work,
In the 3rd movement, we hear the master of Russian ballet music in music that could just as well have belonged in The Nutcracker or Swan Lake. The ease with which Tchaikovsky assembles a world-class symphonic waltz is almost arrogant, and the only thing we hear of the heavy fate motif here is as a foot-dragging afterthought deep in the clarinets that lead us into the final movement.
It opens just like the 1st movement with the fate motif, but this time in major instead of minor, which gives it a hint of hope and optimism, without, however, depriving it of all its inherent ominous seriousness. And although Tchaikovsky throughout the movement does what he can to brighten where it can be brightened, it never becomes the unequivocal victory over fate that Beethoven could proclaim in his 5th symphony; after some nice, lots of closing major chords, which could have been a nice and optimistic ending, fate again offers to dance in something that can probably best be described as a struggle to keep faith in hope. There is bravura and beautiful rhythms, lots of major chords and closing cascades, but nevertheless it is the motif of fate that gets the last word – and even with the world-famous rhythm that opens Beethoven's 5th symphony, and so we end up in Tchaikovsky's Symphony of Fate somewhat in the same place where we started. And considering his general mindset and difficult life, it is probably also a more valid conclusion from the Russian champion on what life has to offer.
