Tchaikovsky Books

Tchaikovsky Through Others' Eyes (Russian Music S.) This compilation of reminiscences about Tchaikovsky, the man, is unprecedented in English. The memoirs, diary entries, and interviews written and conducted by his contemporaries and friends, relatives, fellow musicians, journalists, and state officials show us both the public and the private figure: the student at the School of Jurisprudence, the conductor, the professor at the Conservatory, the philanthropist and promoter of talent, the loving brother and uncle, the intrepid traveler, and the man who impressed a range of people, from servants to members of the Russian imperial family. Ten chronologically arranged chapters offer more than fifty documents, many laudatory, others not. Here, Tchaikovsky's contemporaries speak of little-known facets of the composer's life: foibles and manners, politics and tastes, prejudices and preferences, sexual and otherwise. Alexander Poznansky prefaces each chapter with information on the relevant period of the composer's life and on the writers quoted; notes elucidate allusions to individuals and artifacts, and identify sources for further information. The result is a dynamic portrayal of the composer, with all the complexities and paradoxes of a real life. Tchaikovsky Books.

The Nutcracker: Complete Ballet for Solo Piano This solo piano edition of Tchaikovsky's masterful Christmas ballet offers a chance to enjoy such favourites as "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" and "The Waltz of The Flowers". Entirely faitful to Tchaikovsky's brilliant score, this delightful arrangement by Sergey Taneyev and the composer himself renders the complete ballet in a style both idiomatic to the piano and specially designed to be relatively easy to play. Here are all the movements of the beloved "Suite", along with the rest of this holiday favourite, in an authoritative edition suitable for performers, rehearsal pianists, and all admirers of Tchaikovsky's art. Tchaikovsky Books.

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique) (Cambridge Music Handbooks) Tchaikovsky's final symphony has fascinated generations of music lovers, amateur and specialist alike, since its first performance just over a century ago. Timothy L. Jackson explores sensitively and without prejudice the question of the Pathetique's program and its relation to Tchaikovsky's homosexuality and death. The book covers the work's conception, genesis, and reception, and presents an in-depth analysis of its remarkable formal structure. The reception chapter investigates the Pathetique's impact on Tchaikovsky's younger contemporaries, most notably Mahler and Rachmaninov, and on more recent Russian composers like Shostakovich and Schnittke. Also explored is the dark side of the symphony's political interpretation in the twentieth century, especially its transformation into a cultural icon of the Third Reich.

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