Tchaikovsky: Symphony Nos. 4, 5 & 6 'Pathetique'

"Interpretatively Karajan's reading remains very similar to his later view. By 1960 Karajan had already moulded the Berlin Philharmonic into a superb, uniquely polished band."
(Gramophone Magazine on the 4th Symphony)

Peter Il'yich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) wrote his last three numbered symphonies at times of great personal anxiety. He had already started the fourth when he received a written declaration of love from a besotted music student. Although he kindly but firmly rejected her advances his emotional world was shattered by reading Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. The thought that he could emulate Onegin's dismissal of Tatiana - truly a heartrending moment in his opera - made him finally accept the student. The so-called fate motive permeates the whole symphony showing that there is no escape. Luckily Tchaikovsky then entered into correspondence with a wealthy widow and music enthusiast which helped to restore his sanity. The fifth symphony has indeed a relatively sunnier disposition although some dark clouds still seem to pervade the horizon. Nothing however could have prepared the world for the sixth and last symphony for it is truly a monumental work and should be in the collection of all lovers of music. Although the second movement is a charming waltz and the third a brilliant march it is in the first and particularly the fourth that the composer pours forth from his soul some of the most beautiful and emotionally shattering music ever written.