Tchaikovsky-Andante Cantabile Op. 11-Where is the forest?

Whenever I am recommended famous standalone movement, I would diplomatically suggest that perhaps there is more hidden gems to be uncovered in listening to the complete piece instead. I was baffled when one of my friends told he how moving the piece of music Andante Cantabile by Tchaikovsky was and I suddenly held my breath and agreed wholeheartedly  for the moment. I could not remember or figure out where this piece was taken from. Upon searching for an answer, I found to my astonishment that I have with me about 10 standalone movements of this piece but not a single complete version. To add injury,  for once I did not know the origin of this piece but later found out that it was actually the second movement of Tchaikovsky's string quartet no. 1 in D minor Opus 11. As a consolation, I found out that even great artists like Maisky, Perlman and of course the more commercialized Yo-Yo Ma did not bother to record the entire 4 movements at all. My hunt for my Red October ( you should see this show about USA/Russian submarine warfare ) began and I finally managed to nail down two complete recordings by Emerson Quartet and Borodin Quartet.

The quartet was written by Tchaikovsky early in his musical career in 1871 and even the composer himself paid special attention to the second movement Andante Cantabile in B flat by writing an arrangement for solo cello and orchestra in 1888. There was much consolation to my intellect that my missing this might not have been such a big intellectual suicide after all. If you have not heard the entire 4 movements of string quartet no. 1 opus 11 where Andante Cantabile was taken from, I do urge you to do so as the other 3 movements sort of provide a larger canvas on which the melancholic Andante Cantabile was drawn on. Rest assured that most of you are likely to enjoy listening to the entire piece thereafter. This is why I added "Where is the forest?" to the title assuming Andante Cantabile to be one of the trees in the forest.

There is another interesting twist to Andante Cantabile itself that links Tchaikovsky to the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. Edward Garden wrote in his work on Tchaikovsky and Tolstoy that while Tchaikovsky himself was a great musician, he was not well endowed literary; the libretto of his only opera Queen of Spades was written by his brother Modest Tchaikovsky. Tolstoy himself has on the same account distanced himself from much of anything musical that is beyond his comprehension although he did play the piano when he was young.

The two great Russians met in Moscow in 1876/7 resulting in Tchaikovsky's Andante Cantabile being added as part of the programme for the special evening of music in honor of Tolstoy. Although Tolstoy has limited appreciation of music, he has a great love for folk music and was moved to tears by the Andante Cantabile during that concert. Andante Cantabile has part of its origin in a Russian or Ukrainian folk song.

Tchaikovsky has fashioned a folk song of humble origin to be part of a great Romantic era music in Andante Cantabile or shall I say String Quartet No. 1.

Cheers,,,, Pete aka http://lkypeter.blogspot.com

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