The Rolston String Quartet, the primary performers on this album, won first prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2016.
Composition History
Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 1 was first performed in February 1871 by an ad-hoc foursome from the Russian Musical Society.
Composer Biography
Tchaikovsky, the composer, was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, which was only five years old at the time he wrote his String Quartet No. 1.
Recording & Production
This recording was made possible with support from Banff Centre through the Freeze Family Career Development Program and the Aurora Fund for the Advancement of String Quartet Music.
Compositional Technique
The second movement of Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 1 explicitly uses the Russian folk song Sidel Vanya, which the composer heard in Ukraine.
Composition History
Tchaikovsky wrote his Children's Album, a set of piano miniatures, after a disastrous marriage and suicide attempt, while financially supported by Nadezhda von Meck.
Historical Context
At the time Tchaikovsky wrote his String Quartet No. 1, there was no discernible tradition of writing or playing string quartets in Russia.
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