Tchaikovsky believed that ballet music should be judged by its quality, not dismissed as merely 'merry tunes with a dancelike rhythm,' comparing it to Beethoven's symphonies.
Compositional Technique
Tchaikovsky's ballets, including Sleeping Beauty, feature daring harmonies, syncopated rhythms, and captivating melodies, and he excelled at musically characterizing protagonists and the opposition between good and evil.
Composition History
Tchaikovsky entrusted the 18-year-old Sergei Rachmaninov with transcribing the entire Sleeping Beauty ballet for piano four hands in 1890, but Tchaikovsky himself later made corrections.
Interpretation
The Kodama sisters chose to play transcriptions of Tchaikovsky's ballets by famous composers like Anton Arensky, Claude Debussy, and Sergei Rachmaninov, each bringing their own personality to the works.
Composition History
Tchaikovsky's first ballet, Swan Lake, was commissioned by Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre in 1875 and was based on the German fairy tale 'The Purloined Veil'.
Recording & Production
This album is the first recording together for sisters Mari Kodama and Momo Kodama, who are both pianists.
Notable Performances
The 1877 premiere of Swan Lake at the Bolshoi Theatre was not an immediate success; its path to world fame was paved by a new production in St. Petersburg in 1895, choreographed by Marius Petipa.
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Encores
Four Hands for France: Music for Piano Duet
Schmitt: Complete Original Works for Piano Duet & Duo, Vol. 4
Holst: The Planets, Op. 32, H. 125 - Elgar: Introduction & Allegro, Op. 47 & Salut d'amour, Op. 12
