12.31.2008

good ol' peter ilyich

“the creative process is like music which takes root with extraordinary force and rapidity.”

~tchaikovsky


coincidentally, i heard a piece by tchaikovsky on the radio while driving home from work tonight—coincidence, because i had just had a brief conversation with my friend about the composer the day before. did you know you can spell his name this way, too—pyotr ilyich chaikovsky?


but, i digress. they were playing his fifth symphony. have you heard it? my guess is you have. it is really powerful. it's dark and brooding in some places. but it is quite beautiful—the second movement especially could probably make me weep. of course, i would have to say this is partly because of the haunting horn solo in that movement, but also for the fact that my dad made me a tape from his vinyl recording of this symphony when i was in college. i listened to it over and over and over again while doing hours and hours of boring clerical work for the director of annual giving at the college.


it is my favorite of his symphonies. if you have not heard it, you should. you should soon. do let me know what you think when you do.

9 comments:

Peter Tschirhart said...

It just occurred to me that if Peter Ilyich last name was Magnum, in the phone book it would read. Magnum, P.I. that's weird! :)

I have some music to listen to, thanks for making the suggestion.

georgia b. said...

Magnum, P. I.—hubba hubba. :)

i had the biggest crush on his character when i was a teenager. i'm so over him now. :)

i hope you like Tchaikovsky, P. I.'s fifth.

Unknown said...

i will make a point and let you know. was listening to beethoven's 5th yesterday...

Char said...

my ex-husband was quite the classical music buff and mozart was his favorite. But he also loved a bit of Beethoven and some others. I can remember him learning to play the piano just to learn to play Moonlight Sonata.

what a memory! :) I can remember getting up on Saturdays to clean with classical music playing.

Chris said...

Haven't heard it, but I do love Tchaikovsky. I go weak in the knees for the Nutcracker, which he actually hated, believe it or not!

Jane said...

I will go and dig out my classical tapes right now and see if it is on there! Thanks for the rec!
~jane

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Anonymous said...

Char, of the stylistic periods of music, Tchaikovsky was a contemporary of the 19th century (Romantic era, not classical).

Anyhow, I really enjoy his fifth. I first got into Tchaikovsky having to write a research paper on him for a project (thought I'd hate it) for a music class but ended up loving him in the end. I wish I was there the day he conducted his Fifth Symphony!