Tchaikovsky: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 And 3

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Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 23 Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 75Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky retains his position as the mostpopular of all Russian composers. His music offers obvious superficial charmsin its winning melodies and vivid orchestral colours. At the same time hisachievement is deeper than this, however tempting it may be to despise what somany people continue to enjoy.Born in Kamsko-Votkinsk in 1840, the second son of a miningengineer, Tchaikovsky had his early education, in music as in everything else,at home, under the care of his mother and of a beloved governess. From the ageof ten he was a pupil at the School of Jurisprudence in St Petersburg,completing his studies there in 1859, to take employment in the Ministry ofJustice. During these years he developed his abilities as a musician and it musthave seemed probable that, like his near contemporaries Mussorgsky, Cui,Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin, he would keep music as a secondary occupation,while following his official career. For Tchaikovsky matters turned out differently. Thefoundation of the new Conservatory of Music in St Petersburg under AntonRubinstein enabled him to study there as a full-time student from 1863. In 1865he moved to Moscow as a member of the staff of the new Conservatory establishedthere by Anton Rubinstein's brother Nikolay. For over ten years he continued inMoscow, before financial assistance from a rich widow, Nadezhda von Meck,enabled him to leave the Conservatory and devote himself entirely tocomposition. The same period in his life brought an unfortunate marriage to aself-proclaimed admirer of his work, a woman who showed early signs of mentalinstability and could only add further to Tchaikovsky's own problems ofcharacter and inclination. His homosexuality was a torment to him, while hismorbid sensitivity and diffidence, coupled with physical revulsion for thewoman he had married, led to a severe nervous breakdown.Separation from his wife, which was immediate, still leftpractical and personal problems to be solved. Tchaikovsky's relationship withNadezhda von Meck, however, provided not only the money that at first wasnecessary for his career, but also the understanding and support of a womanwho, so far from making physical demands of him, never even met him face toface. This curiously remote liaison and patronage only came to an end in 1890,when, on the false plea of bankruptcy, she discontinued an allowance that wasno longer of importance and a correspondence on which he had come to depend.Tchaikovsky's sudden death in St Petersburg in 1893 gave riseto contemporary speculation and has provoked further posthumous rumours. It hasbeen suggested that he committed suicide as the result of pressure from a courtof honour of former students of the School of Jurisprudence, when an allegedlyerotic liaison with a young nobleman seemed likely to cause an open scandaleven in court circles. Officially his death was attributed to cholera,co