Tchaikovsky: Essential Works for Beginners 

What a great intro to Tchaikovsy's music. You do such an honest of job of taking composers on their own terms rather than holding them accountable to some standard they didn't know about or care to conform to.

Speaking of Sleeping Beauty....my wife, an excellent orchestral violinist stated that the 1st violin part to the ballet was like trying to get a whole section to play the Tchaikovsky violin concerto! She thought it that hard!

Tchaikovsky was my introduction to Classical Music back in high school. I'm sure I'm not alone in that. The amount of memorable melodies the man created is staggering. Even the first three symphonies, which don't get nearly the love the last three do, are jam packed with great tunes.

re: popularity and worth in music...I was always surprised that in my advanced music history/survey courses of the 20th C. Rachmaninoff was almost never even mentioned much less studied! Compared with the Second Viennese School or Iannes Xenakis and others whom we studied in detail, I have heard or played 20 times more Rachmaninoff than all of them put together! R. was always poopooed for his lush orchestrations and exquisite melodiousness, but of late it has been remarked that his compositions and harmonic language are complex and as individual as any...rivaling Chopin's in the last Century.

Wonderful list! I have to admt, the Violin Concerto is my personal favorite. And I want to put a word in for the Trio, which I find hugely beautiful and dramatic -- the end is almost as heart-breaking as the end of the Pathetique Symphony.

I only recently became acquainted with the Serenade for Strings. I find it to be astonishing. Incredible piece of music. The famous waltz is only the beginning! Finale of the 5th! Most exciting conclusion EVER!!

Is Tchaikovsky popular? Does the Pope you know what in the woods? Even my tone deaf father loved the Nutcracker tunes though he probably never learned the title of the piece. He also loved "Everybody's Making Money But Tchaikovsky," a novelty tune recorded by Les Brown and his Orchestra in the early forties. "Did Tch'kowsky make the grade? Just consult your Hit Parade, Then you'll know the old boy was a wow-sky!" Couldn't have said it better myself!

Hmmmmm.....Barber's Adagio for Strings always reminded me of "homosexual torment.." Great list, Mr. H., and brilliantly elucidated, as per usual with you, sir!

Thank you so much for making this video happen!

Hallo Everyone!!! What a wonderful List!! Just grand...Romeo and Juliet especially and of course it is a beautiful beginning😊❤

I love the "Home Run" comment. I saw this video at Blockbuster, something to the effect of "Why is Tchaikovsky so disrespected?" by Andre Previn. I thought, "I'd love to hear him explain this," because -- as a listener, like you -- I knew there was nothing wrong with Tchaikovsky's work. The video explained nothing, but one phrase Previn said during his much talking went like this, "[Tchaikovsky] wrote THE concerto..." That was enough for me, I thought, "How could someone who didn't have a clue how to write music be so outrageously successful?" It was not long after that, historians have begun sort of taking back all the nonsense about Tchaikovsky being a hack. He wasn't. I was fortunate enough, too, to gain my own opinion -- by LISTENING -- about what was and might not be great music BEFORE going to college. I was discussing programming for a "Concerto Night" when the one of the pianists was going to perform Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto. The conductor/professor ("Doctor," of course) said to me, "WE don't consider Rachmaninoff to be really a composer" (his grammar), "we" meaning colleagues of his who were trained in composition at the Eastman School of Music. My brain GUSHED with the immediate thought, "Boy, am I glad I never met this man while I was growing up, listening to (a LOT of) great music. He could have swayed my opinion, but, because he wasn't in the way, I know that he is wrong..." Thinking, maybe he thought the 2nd Piano Concerto was too "popular," not sophisticated enough, I asked him, "Well, what do you think of the 3rd Piano Concerto?" He had a blank stare, then added, "I haven't really listened to his music, because I don't like it." I think this is why I LOVE Dave Hurwitz's review style: he's like the kid who calls out, "The emperor has no clothes!" Obviously, both Tchaikovsky AND Rachmaninoff were great composers.

A brilliant list, encompassing so much of Tchaikovsky's very best music and showing his tunefulness, emotional impact and great orchestration, in a variety of forms. A pity no room can be found for Francesca da Rimini which isn't nearly as well-known as it should be; I now prefer it to Romeo and Juliet.

Hi Dave, This is definitely a weird question but I think with your expertise you might have some insight. What are your top brass performances of any orchestral work? Performances where the brass shone through more than you could ever imagine, or where the brass section was just unmatched in power. Thanks for your amazing videos Dave!

Great list! Tchaikovsky being regarded as somehow "unworthy" is not a recent development, however. When I was in high school in the early 1960s, I remember our Latin teacher telling the class that you'd be frowned upon if you admitted to liking Tchaikovsky. And isn't there a song "Don't say you like Tchaikovsky" by Bea Arthur and company?

I couldn't help noticing that you omitted a certain work for cello and orchestra? Good for you! Seriously, I loved your selection. Tchaikovsky undoubtedly composed a lot of great music and it's a shame that some people look down their noses at it.

Hello! Can you please do a video on THE BEST AND WORST Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture? I don’t think you’ve done one yet. Thanks

Hi Dave, love your videos and I know I should stay on the topic of Tchaikovsky, but I would really love to see a video on the RCA Living Stereo boxed sets. I searched and couldn’t find any from you. Hope to see one soon! Keep up the great work!

Well done as always, Dave. Especially your clarification of the full Nutcracker ballet as opposed to the suite. Agreed with you on the whole first act. As far as attempting a “popular demand” request, I don’t believe you’ve done any presentation on Vaughan Williams’ ‘London’ or ‘Pastoral’ symphonies and their recordings. Any chance of that happening?

Thanks for all these amazing videos, Dave! The one on the essential works by Tchaikovsky got me thinking that he used the tam-tam quite prominently in his orchestral works... Being a tam-tam fan (as I am!), would you consider doing a video on the use of tam-tams and gongs in classical music (e.g. 1st work to introduce a tam-tam, special effects as in the finale of Elektra, big and small tam-tams as in Mahler's 2nd, etc.). It could be fun! Sorry if you have already done so, I could not find such a video in your channel. Thanks and regards from Denmark!

I'm sure Douglas Moore had the Serenade for Strings waltz in mind when he wrote the Clarendon Hotel waltz in his 'Ballad of Baby Doe.' At least, when I'm hearing one of them, I always think of the other. ( I'm seeking treatment for it. )

speaking of Tchaikovsky, what did you think about the recent recordings of the 5th and 6th symphony with Petrenko and the BPO?

re: the Pathetique Symphony.....as a conductor friend of mine explained to his University Orchestra when they were doing it...."the last movement is so tragically Russian......NO Hope! Simply NO Hope!"

Dave, you have no videos about american composer Moondog. Are you into his music?

Hey Dave! Thanks for your amazing videos! I wonder if listened to Tchaikovsky's operas, and if so, what do you think about them?

Hi Dave, I had a flash of inspiration to ask you a multidisciplinary question. I am a film director and immersed myself in the world of classical music at the same time that I entered the cinematographic field. I have the same passion for soundtracks, from pianos in silent films to Herrmann and his masterpieces. However, Kubrick - after famously replacing Alex North's score - began to insert classical music into almost all of his films. The question is: obviously it could be due to his genius, but how did he know exactly what music he was going to use in his films? How did he know it would combine so much, at a time when it was expensive to buy records and have a repertoire like it, from Strauss waltzes to Polish expressionism, and still have a very refined level of erudite choice? I may be a hardcore collector, but I often fear being cliché and using a Pärt Spiegel im Spiegel in a beauty product advertisement. Kubrick went further, he knew a lot, quasi everything. Did he have time to hear so much and know so much? In short, what is your view on the mystery of Kubrick and his relationship with classical music? I don't know who the director's musical supervisor could have been, it could be a researcher emeritus. Anyway, who knows this could be a new topic of popular demand? Thank you for all these years of learning that I owe you.

Tchaikovsky composed "Romeo and Juliet" and the "Manfred Symphony" at the suggestion of Balakirev. I've sometimes wondered about those two, who were otherwise an internationalist vs. a nationalist in Russian music.

When one person asks for something in classical music, it shows that it's popular, you said. Well... Have you ever guessed to do something about Roger Sessions? And what about a concert cycle with the complete works by Varèse and one with the complete works by Ruggles?

Would have been nice with just one recommended recording per pice to start off with.

Is Francesca da Rimini for non beginners? 😉

If he's expressing the torment of being ostracized, and in some cases killed, for his orientation, it's a courageous act for someone so talented, and in the public eye to be addressing something that still to this day is only respected by 50% of the world at most.

Tchaikovsky expressed the torment of being a homosexual in a hostile society in the second movement of the "Pathétique," the "limping" waltz in 5/4 time.