According to his teachers Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was not particularly gifted. His special talents were acknowledged only in 1865 when he had been working for the Ministry of Finances for some years. In 1866 he was appointed teacher at the Conservatory and applied himself to composing. His oeuvre is fairly extensive and many of his compositions receive a high ranking on the international list of classical music including his six symphonies solo concertos (violin concerto and piano concertos) ballets (The Nut Cracker Swan Lake) and his overtures (1812 and Romeo and Juliette). In 1893 Tchaikovsky died of Cholera after drinking a glass of infectedwater. His Slavonic March is a popular concert piece for symphonic orchestra that is still frequently performed in concert halls. David Well arranged the theme and created a contemporary march in rock style. Tchaikovsky once said to an unsatisfied teacher: ‘I will be a great composer within 10 years time.’

Par TCHAIKOVSKI PIOTR ILITCH / JONES NATHAN (Arr.). Tchaikovsky composed his twelve character pieces for piano, The Seasons, while he was writing his popular ballet, Swan Lake. Each piece in The Seasons depicts a different month of the year in Russia. The original publication of September: The Hunt included an epigraph at the start of the piece-a small poem by Alexander Pushkin. This energetic arrangement for symphonic band by Nathan Jones opens with an octave fanfare between the winds and brass. Tchaikovsky\'s colorful harmony speaks here, with passing chromaticism adding color to the music. The fanfare theme is transformed in the quiet central section, still shifting to the minor mode with short solo passages for flute, bassoon, trumpet, xylophone and oboe (cued in flutes). The segue back into the opening fanfare is clever, with the notes leading through several keys before concluding in the major with a short reprise of the initial theme. / Date parution : 2022-09-20/ Répertoire / Concert Band