Some nifty stuff in the pipeline–I’m not going to keep ignoring Richard Strauss, now that I’ve opened him up on this series–but for now, a favorite potboiler by Tchaikovsky, a man who certainly knew how to compose the kinds of potboilers that kept audiences pleased while he worked on his more serious work.
There’s not a whole lot to say about this work, musically. It’s pretty much a collection of tunes, but orchestrated by a genius. There’s a lot to be said for works in which great composers collect some tunes.
This piece also happens to have be a favorite of my father’s. He particularly loves the dance-like central tune. And as a former trumpet player, I’m eternally sad that my trumpet-playing career never gave me the opportunity to play the part that happens around the 8:00 mark in this recording! Trumpet players LIVE for those brief moments to shine.
Here is Capriccio Italien, by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Daniel Barenboim conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
