Repertoire
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY: Suite from Swan Lake (1877) 43′
A work that is magnificently composed in terms of musical architecture and orchestration of the highest order is the ballet Swan Lake (1877) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, from which we will hear this suite. Vladimir Petrovich Begichev (1828–1891), director of the Imperial Theatres of Moscow, commissioned the ballet score from Tchaikovsky in May 1875; it was the first of a trilogy completed by The Sleeping Beauty (1890) and The Nutcracker (1892).
Although this ballet belongs to a creative period in Tchaikovsky’s output that falls short of the maturity found in works such as his last two symphonies of 1888 and 1893, and sits closer in time to the Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 (1878), it nonetheless demonstrates how Tchaikovsky was able to bring to ballet music a dramatic and emotional depth unlike anything previously seen in the genre — making it a landmark and canonical work in the repertoire of music for ballet.
Artists
Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya
Josep Caballé i Domènech, conductor
