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5th Symphony in E minor, Tchaikovsky

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5th Symphony in E minor, Tchaikovsky
My Experience with the ISU Orchestra
Concert 3: Tchaikovsky

On the 28th April 2011 I participated with the Iowa state orchestra on the last performance for the year. The orchestra included works by Tchaikovsky. The orchestra performed the 5th
Symphony in E minor. This piece is in sonata form, which has a theme that is heard throughout the piece. The overall trajectory of the Tchaikovsky’s 5th reminds the listeners to Beethoven’s
5th symphony as they were both during the times of war and it is illustrated in both symphonies.
This piece is a perfect example of a Romantic-era symphony colorful, complex and above all, passionately emotional.
The symphony has four movements which consist of a fast, slow, dance and another fast movement. The theme of this piece is heard throughout this piece. The first movement is the
Andante- Allegro con anima begins with a lengthy slow introduction, entering darkly with a funeral character on the clarinet. In sonata form the subject enters gently with the repetitive brevity of a Russian dance, building in intensity. The development section is quite short and concentrated with the recapitulation sneaking in, in the bassoons. The coda recedes into the deeps, presaging the mood of the next movement.

Following the first movement is the Andante cantabile which has a tender, expressive melody played by the French horn that sounds almost like a love song. But then the original theme suddenly and rudely interrupts the reverie, as though we were able to break away from our troubles for a short time, this theme is a reminder that we are still in war and that darkness is still upon us. This movement is in a standard ternary form with the A section in D major and the B section in F# then a restatement of A section with different orchestration.

Lebepe K. |2

The third movement called the Valse: Allegro moderato begins like a graceful, pastoral waltz.
Once again, it feels as if our hero has escaped from fate’s

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