May 14, 2026 | Rachmaninoff Concert Hall (Philharmonia-2)
Soloist – Ekaterina Mechetina, piano
Conductor – Vladimir Spivakov
Tchaikovsky. Concerto No. 1 for piano and orchestra in B-flat minor, Op. 23
Tchaikovsky. Fragments from ballets «Swan Lake» и «The Sleeping Beauty»
The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia is continuing its “Vladimir Spivakov Conducts” Philharmonia series devoted to the art of the NPR’s artistic director and Russian symphony traditions. The program of this night features emblematic works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, namely Piano Concerto no.1, the icon of Russian music in the world, and pieces from Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty ballets.
Concerto no.1, written initially for Anton Rubinstein and then dedicated to Hans von Bulow, rightly belongs to the treasury of world classic repertoire and is mandatory in the program of the P.I.Tchaikovsky International Competition. Not a virtuoso pianist himself, Tchaikovsky created an overwhelmingly difficult large-scale composition with rich and luminous themes, while its significant symphonism marked a new era in Russian music. The soloist in the Concerto will be brilliant pianist Ekaterina Mechetina, Russia’s Merited Artist.
Tchaikovsky’s ballet scores, namely The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker opened a principally new leaf in the history of the art. Earlier the ballet music had been accidental and depended on choreography. Tchaikovsky endowed it with intense dramaturgy and well-structured development (using leitmotifs) without denying traditional dancing forms and not forgetting that “a melody is the soul of music”. Following Leo Delibes’s example, the composer wanted to concoct suites based on his ballet scores but there exists only one his authorized Suite, that is The Nutcracker Suite. Many conductors prefer to make up suites according to their own views, usually choosing most spectacular ballet numbers, the approach also used by maestro Vladimir Spivakov.