Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky -- Symphony No. 5 -- Score

It is often interesting, or even amusing, to look at how the reception to a piece of music has changed over time. Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 is an excellent example. Nowadays, it is considered a standard part of the orchestral repertoire, and full of what is emblematic of Tchaikovsky's music: Memorable melodies put through variation and development with energetic orchestration that ties the entire piece together. The recurring theme has been given the name "Fate" in some literature, based on some of Tchaikovsky's comments at the time, though he did not produce any explicit program for this symphony, as he did for his first three.

Initial reaction was very uneven. Tchaikovsky himself felt the ending was insincere and incomplete, though he never put forth any revised versions. It is nowadays seen as the positive and uplifting progression of the Fate Theme from its statement at the very beginning by the clarinets, the unsettled interruption of the horn solo in the second movement, the furtive restatement at the end of the third movement, and finally the stately string chorus and energetic brass march of the final movement. But while the Russian reception was warm, though not enthusiastic, critical response in the USA was hostile, almost comically negative, comparing the music to drunken delirium and chaotic noise. As with his other work, Tchaikovsky struggled to conform to the Germanic symphonic idiom, to the point of abandoning the attempt and embracing an "authentically Russian" sound. Perhaps his very different approach was simply too unfamiliar for American ears to appreciate.

0:00 First Movement
14:58 Second Movement
28:18 Third Movement
33:48 Fourth Movement

Score sourced through the International Music Score Library Project / Petrucci Music Library: https://imslp.org/wiki/Special:Imagef...

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