Tchaikovsky - The Man And His Music

6 April 2007

Tchaikovsky - The Man And His Music

"Music is not illusion, but revelation rather. Its triumphant power resides in the fact that it reveals to us beauties we find nowhere else." Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky

This April the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra will celebrate some of the most powerful, romantic music of the nineteenth century with Auckland and Wellington concerts celebrating the music of Tchaikovsky.

In the words of conductor Leopold Stokowski, "His musical utterance comes directly from the heart and is a spontaneous expression of his innermost feeling. It is as sincere as if it were written with his blood".

There has long been debate around the influence of the composer's private life on his music. Certainly it is well documented that his Sixth and final symphony Pathétique, which will be performed as part of these concerts, was written as a reflection of his emotionally turbulent life while he attempted to reconcile his homosexual tendencies. Such behaviour in the rigid society of the time was harshly condemned.

A particular favorite in the early days of radio and the recording industry, when classical music was first becoming available to a mass audience, Tchaikovsky is often touted as a composer who made classical music more approachable.

His death from cholera, just nine days after the premiere of the Sixth Symphony, appeared to be a fatal mistake - he drank a glass of unboiled water at the height of an epidemic of cholera - the nineteenth century rumour mill questioned this 'mistake', could he have taken his life due to the condemnation of former schoolmates who pressured him to kill himself in fear that one of his affairs was about to be exposed?

However Tchaikovsky left a legacy of music that was admired by other composers, among them Mahler, Elgar and Rachmaninov, who absorb into their own music the dramaticism and emotion audiences hear in the Sixth Symphony and Eugine and Onegin overture, that reflects the dramas of Tchaikovsky's own short marriage.

Conductor Michael Lloyd is a renowned conductor of opera and ballet and is an appropriate choice for performances of Tchaikovsky's music, in particular the suite from The Nutcracker, the music of which is perhaps more famous than the ballet itself! A recent review from the Birmingham Post said; "the Orchestra of the English National Ballet under the baton of Michael Lloyd gave it a drive and colour very suited to this production. In all, a glorious night out". A regular conductor with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and English National Ballet, Lloyd's 1994 debut in New Zealand has seen him return a number of times, the last being 2005 for the Lexus Song Quest. He is currently Music Director of the Chandos Symphony Orchestra, Malvern and the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra.

PROGRAMME

PYOTR ILLYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

WELLIINGTON Friday 20 April 6.30pm, Town Hall Preconcert talk 5.45pm sponsored by The Dominion Post

AUCKLAND Saturday 28 April 6.30pm, Town Hall Preconcert talk 5.45pm

Eugene Onegin: Waltz and Polonaise

The Nutcracker: Act 1 Suite

Symphony No 6 Pathetique

MICHAEL LLOYD is Music Director of the Birmingham Philharmonic and conducted the 2005 Lexus Song Quest at the Auckland Town Hall. He has held many positions with companies including Scottish Ballet, Staatstheater Kassel and English National Opera.

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