Symphony no. 5 in E minor, op. 64The enormous popular appeal of Tchaikovsky's orchestral music rests on themes of touching eloquence and emotional power, on endlessly inventive textures, and on a masterful control of sheer symphonic sound surely one of the best in all of the nineteenth-century literature. Then there is a thread that runs through his late work especially in the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Symphonies seeming to invite us, his audience, to share in depth the composer's most personal feelings. It is a potent recipe for success, nowhere more evident than in the extraordinarily popular Symphony No. 5, a favorite with concert-goers worldwide ever since its premiere, in St. Petersburg, in 1888. |
