Peter Tchaikovsky is known mainly for his popular ballets, like The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty, but he was more fond of his serious larger works, especially his symphonies. In this episode, we will take a look (and listen) at the first movement of his great Symphony No. 5, a work that continues to enjoy a healthy life in the standard symphonic repertoire. Like we saw in the last episode with Gershwin's Concerto In F, a composer of the Romantic style like Tchaikovsky is very concerned with creating tension and extending it as long as possible. We shall see what it is about Tchaikovsky's procedure that makes him so exceptional!
