This evening (May 7) is the 175th anniversary of the birth of Russian composer Peter Tchaikovsky. To commemorate the occasion on Symphony @ 7, I'll have his Symphony No. 5 in E minor in a new recording from the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas.
The Fifth Symphony premiered in St. Petersburg in November of 1888. It's the next-to-last symphony Tchaikovsky wrote, coming just after the intensely dramatic Fourth and before the great and tragic Pathetique, Symphony No. 6 in B minor. Like those masterpieces, the Fifth is also about the struggle against fate, but here a victory is clearly won in the closing minutes with its triumphant march.
Join me for Tchaikovsky on his 175th birthday on Symphony @ 7 on Classical 101.