This music is moving-
There aren't really many other ways to put it. As one might venture to guess, since this is Tchaikovsky, a composer of the romantic era- that this symphony is full of romance. But to say that it only speaks with romance is selling it short. Tchaikovsky was quite happy with this symphony after he had completed it- he thought it expressed what he wanted it to.
The first movement starts with a quiet, somber tone. When the first melody is introduced, the music holds the same mournful feeling and quickly turns to passionate grieving. Then hope is introduced. The orchestra takes that idea and runs with it- but nothing is ever really achieved here- only hopes and dreams are illustrated. These dreams are awakened with a bang(beginning of the second link), and we hear the first grieving melody again in the strings as they frantically scurry at the instance of a catastrophe further illustrated by the brass. Things quiet down, but are still filled with tension and disharmony; the orchestra is truly grieving and these emotions boil over again. Then the same "hopeful romantic" melody as heard earlier in the movement comes back again- but this idea is only a painful reminder of what could have been and no longer can be. Pizzicato in the strings serves as a heartbeat for the woodwinds to lament over, and the timpani ends the movement with a gentle roll.
There will be more to come over the next few days- I'm still working on analyzing this symphony in moods! ^__^ This is by no means any sort of real storyline that Tchaikovsky had in mind for this piece- just my interpretation.
First Movement Part A
Part Two
conducted by Yuri Temirkanov with the Orchestra del Teatro all Scala
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