Program
Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) Serenade for Strings in C major, op. 48 (1880)
I. Pezzo en forma di sonatina. Andante non troppo — Allegro moderato
II. Valse. Moderato. Tempo di Valse
III. Elegia. Larghetto elegiaco
IV. Finale (Tema russo). Andante — Allegro con spirito — Molto meno mosso — Tempo I — Più mosso
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975)
Chamber Symphony (String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, arranged for chamber orchestra by Rudolf Barshai, Op. 110a, 1967)
I. Largo
II. Allegro molto
III. Allegretto
IV. Largo
V. Largo
Performers:
musicAeterna orchestra
conductor: Teodor Currentzis
Details
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote his Serenade for String Orchestra in the autumn of 1880 at the peak of his creative form, after the composition of the Symphony No. 4 and the operas “Eugene Onegin” and “Swan Lake”. At the time, the composer was particularly zealously studying Mozart’s legacy and his hobby could have turned into a monograph, but it resulted in the Serenade for String Orchestra. The composition was conceived as a sinfonietta, but it was called a serenade in keeping with the 18th century genre system. Tchaikovsky wrote to his patroness Nadezhda von Meck about “A Piece in the form of a Sonatina” opening his Serenade: “In the first movement I paid tribute to my worship of Mozart; this is an intentional imitation of his manner, and I would be happy if they found that I was not too far from the sample taken.” Far from being fond of direct stylizations, in the third part of the Serenade Tchaikovsky included a theme that ten years later would sound in the most dramatic picture of the opera “The Queen of Spades” – in the bedroom of a dying Countess. The finale of the composition is based on two Russian folk songs. The captivating freshness, clarity of thought and subtlety of orchestral writing have turned the Serenade for String Orchestra into one of the most performed works of the world symphonic repertoire.