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Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in B♭ minor, Op. 23, was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky between November 1874 and February 1875.[1] It was revised in 1879 and in 1888. It was first performed on October 25, 1875, in Boston by Hans von Bülow after Tchaikovsky's desired pianist, Nikolai Rubinstein, criticised the piece. Rubinstein later withdrew his criticism and became a fervent champion of the work. It is one of the most popular of Tchaikovsky's compositions and among the best known of all piano concerti.[2]

Piano Concerto in B♭ minor

23

1874 (1874)–75

Hans von Bülow

25 October 1875 (1875-10-25): Boston

three

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, November 1874

2021

From 2021 to 2022, it served as the sporting anthem of the Russian Olympic Committee as a substitute of the country's actual national anthem as a result of the doping scandal that prohibits the use of its national symbols.

Instrumentation[edit]

The work is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B♭, two bassoons, four horns in F, two trumpets in F, three trombones (two tenor, one bass), timpani, solo piano, and strings.

Measures 1–58: Andantino semplice

Measures 59–145: Prestissimo

Measures 146–170: Tempo I

On March 22 [O.S. March 1], 1878, Nikolai Rubinstein, who had initially rejected the piece before coming to see its value, finally performed the concerto as the pianist in Moscow, with Eduard Langer conducting. Rubinstein subsequently played the piece in two more cities that same year: in (Paris), with Édouard Colonne conducting, and in St. Petersburg.

Palais du Trocadéro

programmed the concerto for the first concerts of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, given on 16 and 17 October 1891. Rafael Joseffy was the soloist.[38] Joseffy had previously performed the piece in January 1888 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

Theodore Thomas

who played the concerto many times with Tchaikovsky himself conducting, made a record in 1926 with Aeolian Orchestra under Stanley Chapple.[39]

Wassily Sapellnikoff

recorded the concerto five times: with John Barbirolli in 1932; with Dmitri Mitropoulos in 1946; with Artur Rodzinski live in 1946; with Carlo Maria Giulini in 1961; and with Erich Leinsdorf in 1963.

Arthur Rubinstein

recorded the concerto thrice, most notably with Philharmonia Orchestra under Issay Dobrowen in 1949.

Solomon

in 1937 with London Philharmonic Orchestra under Walter Goehr.

Egon Petri

's orchestra recorded "Tonight We Love", published in 1941 by Maestro Music Company, with lyrics by Bobby Worth and music adapted from Tchaikovsky by Ray Worth and Martin.[40]

Freddy Martin

performed this piece as part of a World War II fundraising concert in 1943, with his father-in-law, the conductor Arturo Toscanini, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Two performances of Horowitz playing the concerto and Toscanini conducting were eventually released on records and CDs – the live 1943 rendition, and an earlier studio recording made in 1941.

Vladimir Horowitz

won the First International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958 with this piece, surprising some people, as he was an American competing in Moscow at the height of the Cold War. He received an 8 minute standing ovation for this performance. His subsequent RCA LP recording with Kirill Kondrashin was the first classical LP to go platinum.

Van Cliburn

recorded the concerto more than a dozen times, both live and in studio. The studio recording with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1955, and his performance in Portugal, in 1961, with the Portuguese Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pedro de Freitas Branco, are very well regarded.

Emil Gilels

in 1962 with Herbert von Karajan and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Richter also made recordings in 1954, 1957, 1958 and 1968.

Sviatoslav Richter

recorded the concerto in studio with Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan in 1975 playing the revised version, and live in 1986 with Yuri Temirkanov playing the original version of 1875.[41]

Lazar Berman

recorded the concerto twice, once in 1960 with Alceo Galliera and the Philharmonia Orchestra and again in 1979 with Sir Colin Davis and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Claudio Arrau

recorded the concerto in 1971 with Charles Dutoit and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She also recorded it in 1980 with Kirill Kondrashin and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as in 1994 with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Martha Argerich

's performance of this piece at the International Tchaikovsky Competition (1970) resulted in a silver medal. He later recorded with the Baltimore Symphony and David Zinman.

Horacio Gutiérrez

recorded the concerto in 1963 with Lorin Maazel and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Vladimir Ashkenazy

performed and recorded the concerto live with Herbert von Karajan during New Year's Eve Concert in 1988, being one of the last recordings of Karajan.

Evgeny Kissin

won the gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2001 performing this concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and James Conlon in the final round. His live recording of this concerto from the final round is available on the DVD The Cliburn: Playing on the Edge.

Stanislav Ioudenitch

Borg-Wheeler, Phillip (2016). (CD). Hyperion Records. SIGCD441.

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No 1 & Nutcracker Suite – Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)

Brown, David, Tchaikovsky: The Crisis Years, 1874–1878, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1983).  0-393-01707-9.

ISBN

"The Text of Tchaikovsky's B-flat-minor Concerto," Music & Letters 50(2):246–251 (1969).

Friskin, James

(2010). Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893): Piano Concerto No 1 in B-flat minor, Op 23 (CD). Hyperion Records. W10153.

Frivola-Walker, Marina

Maes, Francis, tr. and Erica Pomerans, A History of Russian Music: From Kamarinskaya to Babi Yar (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 2002). ISBN 0-520-21815-9.

Arnold J. Pomerans

Norris, Jeremy, The Russian Piano Concerto (Bloomington, 1994), Vol. 1: The Nineteenth Century.  0-253-34112-4.

ISBN

Poznansky, Alexander Tchaikovsky: The Quest for the Inner Man (New York: Schirmer Books, 1991).  0-02-871885-2.

ISBN

Serotsky, Paul (2000). (CD). Round Top Records. RTR006.

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23

The Concerto: A Listener's Guide, Oxford (1998). ISBN 0-19-510330-0.

Steinberg, M.

Tchaikovsky (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973). ISBN 0-684-13558-2.

Warrack, John

Media related to Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky) at Wikimedia Commons

: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

Piano Concerto No. 1

Tchaikovsky Research