Played by Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Hamish McKeich
Statue of Tchaikovsky near his garden at Klin Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0
It is now accepted that Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s early death was not from cholera – as the Soviet regime insisted – but from suicide, as he feared that his relationship with a nobleman was about to be revealed.
Our, fairly recent, knowledge of this, makes the famed ‘fate’ motive haunting his last three symphonies, that much more poignant.
Completed in 1893, the sixth symphony's four movements did not follow the trend of the romantic symphonies of the time – where, if you started in a minor key, your symphony should move from darkness to light – that is – it should finish in a major key.
But Tchaikovsky’s last symphony is a journey from darkness to darkness.
Programme note by Mary Newman-Pound
Recorded in Auckland Town Hall, 27 June 2019
Producer: Tim Dodd
Sound engineers: Rangi Powick, Adrian Hollay
