Your Top 5 Favorite Tchaikovsky Works

[Florestan]

Capriccio italien, Marche Slave, 1812, maybe another one I forgot. (I guess only the Capriccio italien is really a potpourri I loved them at 14 years old but don't care for them anymore. I never really got into the more serious programmatic pieces either although I like Francesca da Rimini and I often think I should give Manfred more serious listening.

Thanks. Well, I guess Tchaikovsky's music is really for people much older than 14, although if at 14 one doesn't like his music one is a hopeless case.

[Mirror Image]

My 5 favourite Tchaikovsky works 40 years ago: none.
My 5 favourite Tchaikovsky works now: none.

Pretty much how I feel, Rafael. I used to have great affection for his music when I started seriously listening to classical music more than a decade ago. Now, I can't even make it through 10 minutes of anything he wrote. Strange how tastes change over time and, yes, Andrei they do change.

[Florestan]

Strange how tastes change over time and, yes, Andrei they do change.

Oh, I know. My favorite composer 30 years ago was Beethoven. Now he's not even in top 5.

[Mirror Image]

Oh, I know. My favorite composer 30 years ago was Beethoven. Now he's not even in top 5.

I know a composer that was a favorite of yours 30 years ago and still one, Franz Schubert. Would this be accurate?

[Jo498]

There is actually not a lot of music I dislike or rather that I don't much care about anymore that I loved 30 years ago. I don't think that stuff like Capriccio italien was ever intended to be more than a fun potboiler and this explains both its appeal to newbies (melodic, colorful, "dance-like") and the fact that it can also fall out of favor quickly. It's not so simple, of course. The features mentioned are also true for Dvorak's Slavonic dances ((also favorites when I was about 15-16) and while they are not my daily or maybe not even yearly fare, I'd much rather listen to them than to e.g. Capriccio italien or Marche slave or (to name another early favorite) Grieg's Peer Gynt suites.

[Florestan]

I know a composer that was a favorite of yours 30 years ago and still one, Franz Schubert. Would this be accurate?

Yes.

[Brian]

There is actually not a lot of music I dislike or rather that I don't much care about anymore that I loved 30 years ago. I don't think that stuff like Capriccio italien was ever intended to be more than a fun potboiler and this explains both its appeal to newbies (melodic, colorful, "dance-like") and the fact that it can also fall out of favor quickly. It's not so simple, of course. The features mentioned are also true for Dvorak's Slavonic dances ((also favorites when I was about 15-16) and while they are not my daily or maybe not even yearly fare, I'd much rather listen to them than to e.g. Capriccio italien or Marche slave or (to name another early favorite) Grieg's Peer Gynt suites.

I agree with you on this one. My entryway to classical music was through stuff like 1812, Capriccio italien, Capriccio espagnole, Carnival of the Animals, Kaiserwalzer. And I don't dislike them now or look down on them. They're meant to be fun and they are fun.

(But yes...the Slavonic Dances are better )

[mszczuj]

My mind's choice:

Piano Trio
Symphony No. 6
Symphony No. 5
The Sleeping Beauty
The Queen of Spades


My heart's choice:

Piano Trio
Symphony No. 1
Symphony No. 5
Symphony No. 6
Kanareyka Romance op. 25 No. 4


My heart's singular movements choice:

Piano Trio: Pezzo elegiaco
Symphony No. 1: Adagio cantabile ma non tanto
Symphony No. 4: Andantino in modo di canzona
The Snow Maiden: Monologue of Frost
String Quartet No. 1: Andante cantabile

[Florestan]

My mind's choice:

Piano Trio
Symphony No. 6
Symphony No. 5
The Sleeping Beauty
The Queen of Spades


My heart's choice:

Piano Trio
Symphony No. 1
Symphony No. 5
Symphony No. 6
Kanareyka Romance op. 25 No. 4


My heart's singular movements choice:

Piano Trio: Pezzo elegiaco
Symphony No. 1: Adagio cantabile ma non tanto
Symphony No. 4: Andantino in modo di canzona
The Snow Maiden: Monologue of Frost
String Quartet No. 1: Andante cantabile

Nice post, excellent choices.

[Karl Henning]

I suppose I'd say:

The a minor pf trio
Souvenir de Florence
The e minor Symphony
Евгений Онегин
Пиковая дама
and the Francesca da Rimini symphonic fantasia

[Florestan]

I suppose I'd say:

The a minor pf trio
Souvenir de Florence
The e minor Symphony
Евгений Онегин
Пиковая дама
and the Francesca da Rimini symphonic fantasia

[FelixSkodi]

1. Piano Sonata (Both)
2. The Maid of Orleans (plus other operas)
3. The Snow Maiden
4. The Seasons
5. Symphony 6

[kyjo]

Piano Concerto no. 2
Piano Trio
Souvenir de Florence (sextet version)
Symphony no. 1 Winter Daydreams
The Voyeveda

Great as they are, I have suffered a bit from overexposure to his most popular works.