Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 Pathtique // Andris Poga

To this day, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s cause of death remains unexplained. The most persistent theory is that he contracted cholera on purpose to avoid being convicted of homosexuality, which would have resulted in the destruction of all his works. It cannot be denied that his Sixth Symphony sounds like a farewell letter, even like a requiem prae mortem. Torn between sorrow and hope in the first movement; deceptive, almost obscenely happy in the middle movements and mournfully sad in the finale, in which one can literally hear Tchaikovsky’s heart stop beating at the end. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, op. 74 “Pathétique” 00:00 I. Adagio – Allegro non troppo 20:05 II. Allegro con grazia 28:10 III. Allegro molto vivace 37:37 IV. Finale: Adagio lamentoso Andris Poga, conductor Stavanger Symphony Orchestra Recorded at the Stavanger Concert Hall, 4 November 2021