The lost decade 1878-1888 (Part 2)

Donald Macleod explores Tchaikovsky’s life away from home. He spent significant parts of his peak years travelling or staying with friends, and a remarkable amount of his music was composed whilst staying with friends, on holiday or concert tours, or sometimes as a fugitive on the run. This evolved into a full decade of rootless wandering, which is peculiar given his frequent homesickness for Russia.

Today, we look at the second half of the so-called Lost Decade of Tchaikovsky’s life. We find the composer no longer travelling so far and wide across Europe, but largely back in Russia, though still not settling down…

Les saisons (The Seasons), Op 37a:
VIII. August: The Harvest
Ilya Rashkovskiy, piano

Fantaisie de Concert in G Major, Op 56:
I. Quasi rondo
Bernd Glemser, piano
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Antoni Wit, conductor

Piano Trio in A Minor, Op 50:
II B. Variazione Finale e Coda: Allegro risoluto e con fuoco - Andante con moto - Lugubre
Bekova Sisters

Suite No 4 in G Major, Op 61, "Mozartiana":
II. Menuet
III. Preghiera
Swiss Romande Orchestra
Ernest Ansermet, conductor

Manfred Symphony, Op 58:
II. Vivace con spirito
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ondrej Lenárd, conductor

Produced by Iain Chamber for BBC Audio Wales & West