Concert Fantasia (Tchaikovsky)

The Concert Fantasia in G, Op. 56, for piano and orchestra, was written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky between June and October 1884. It was premiered in Moscow on 6 March [O.S. 22 February] 1885, with Sergei Taneyev as soloist and Max Erdmannsdörfer conducting. The Concert Fantasia received many performances in the first 20 years of its existence. It then disappeared from the repertoire and lay virtually unperformed for many years, but underwent a revival in the latter part of the 20th century.

This work is written in two movements and lasts approximately 30 minutes.

Tchaikovsky had voiced his dislike for the sound of piano and orchestra while writing his Second Piano Concerto with his isolating the soloist from the orchestra as much as possible. Tchaikovsky scholar David Brown notes that the middle section of the quasi Rondo of the Fantasia, written for piano solo, "was the logical goal toward which this precedent had pointed". This gives the section the appearance of a cadenza while actually being based on new material. This cadenza substitutes for the development section in sonata form.

The Fantasia is scored for piano solo plus the following:

Woodwinds

Brass

Percussion

Strings

Tchaikovsky returned from abroad at the beginning of March 1884, determined to spend the spring months with his sister at Kamenka. This trip was delayed by urgent modifications to his opera Mazeppa. Tchaikovsky wrote to Nadezhda von Meck from St. Petersburg on 13 March 1884, "I am feeling a surge of energy, and an impatience to set about something new " But Tchaikovsky did not manage to start any new work in Saint Petersburg. Only after arriving at Kamenka on 12 April did Tchaikovsky set to work.

Tchaikovsky was uncertain initially what type of composition he would write. Captivated by the playing of the famed Liszt pupil Eugen d'Albert, who had given concerts in Moscow during the 1883/84 season, his thoughts turned to a new piano concerto. Nonetheless, he wrote in his diary for 13 April 1884, "I stopped playing around and came up with something new. Hit upon an idea for a concerto for piano, but it still sounded too poor and unoriginal". Progress, at least in the composer's view, did not improve over time. On 17 and 18 April, Tchaikovsky wandered in the Trostianka woods and noted down, in his own words: "wretched ideas."

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