Maestro: Independent Classical Spotlight

Maestro Classical podcast: episode 7, a holiday celebration feat. Tchaikovsky and J.S. Bach. 1. The London Symphony Orchestra "Nutcracker Ballet Suite: Waltz Of The Flowers" (mp3) from "Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite / 1812 Overture" (Everest Records) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer of the Romantic era. While not part of the nationalistic music group known as "The Five", Tchaikovsky wrote music which, in the opinion of Harold C. Schonberg, was distinctly Russian: plangent, introspective, with modally-inflected melody and harmony. Despite the compositional efforts of The Five, Tchaikovsky dominates 19th century Russian music as its greatest talent. While his formal conservatory training instilled in him Western-oriented attitudes and techniques, his essential nature, as he always insisted, remained Russian. This was true both in his use of actual folk song and his deep absorption in Russian life and ways of thought. His natural gifts, especially for melody (what he called the "lyrical idea