As early as the première of Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 – originally conceived as a single-movement work – commentators recognised that it embodied a new conception of the concerto, a genre that had hitherto often centred on virtuoso display. The première took place in Dresden on 4 December 1845, with Clara Schumann as the soloist. Its success was only moderate, but the Concerto was performed again in Leipzig just a month later, and the enthusiastic reception it received there ensured its rapid entry into the concert repertoire of many countries. The work inspired both admiration and considerable perplexity because of its innovative form and expressive language. Yet the path charted by Schumann proved an attractive one for later composers: many subsequent Romantic concertos drew on his idea, while the principle of the concerto’s “symphonisation” found its fullest realisation in the works of Brahms.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 is sometimes compared to Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphony of the same number. In Tchaikovsky’s work, however, the emotional span between the tragedy of the opening and the triumph of the finale is even more pronounced. A further parallel may be found in the way the entire work is derived from a single characteristic motif (sometimes referred to, as in Beethoven’s case, as the “fate motif”): the sombre recurring melody first heard in the low register of the clarinet at the opening of the Symphony.

The Fifth was composed relatively quickly, in 1888, after several years of creative crisis. Its première took place in St Petersburg in November, with the composer conducting. The Symphony in E minor is widely regarded as one of Tchaikovsky’s most representative works – a model example of his style. Hallmarks of that style include its pervasive pathos, sharply defined emotional contrasts, and strongly stylised yet readily recognisable echoes of traditional music, heard above all in its melodic and rhythmic language. Combined with the consistently developed idea of fate, these elements form an idiom that represents the very essence of Tchaikovsky’s symphonic language.

Piotr Maculewicz