Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.4, analysis by Gerard Schwarz (part 4)

- The last movement
starts out very joyfully.

You say to yourself, "ah,
finally, Tchaikovsky's enjoying

life and happy, a very positive ending.

We talked about the ominous
first movements of the Beethoven

fifth becoming triumphant.

Well here we have an
ominous first movement

of the Tchaikovsky fourth
being triumphant," but no.

In his letters, he says it's
not joyful, but is looking

to the other people's joy.

So you can say, "oh isn't
it wonderful they're joyful

and isn't it nice to see their joy?"

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

That leads us directly
into the second part,

which is the folk song played
by the woodwinds initially.

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

After that, the first
joyous theme comes in.

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

And then it goes to the
next joyous section,

which is the same feeling,
I think, as the opening,

but with more prominent
role for the lower brass.

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

Again, Tchaikovsky brings us
back to the folk material,

the horns play it, and then
in a kind of ominous way,

the trombones and tuba play
this in the lowest register

while the violins are playing these really

kind of violent scales.

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

After that, the folk
theme comes in in the most

lighthearted way of all.

The woodwinds are playing
piano and the strings just play

these little short notes to
complement the beautiful melody.

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

That doesn't last long.

Immediately we're back into
the drama of this last movement

and we have this wonderful
conversation between

the woodwinds and the strings.

So the strings play a scale

(vocal percussion)

and then the woodwinds

(vocal percussion)

They're trading off scales,
they're trading, trading,

trading, trading, and ...

(clapping)

we're back to the beginning.

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

Exactly the same material,
I mean, to me, very joyous.

The second part of it, the
strings now have the honor

of playing the folk song.

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

And it grows and it grows.

The brass play it.

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

And it continues to get exciting,
exciting, and then what do

you think's gonna happen?

The great moment of the end?

No.

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

The fate motif comes back and
so the fate motif comes back

in a remarkable way.

Many people, when they conduct this,

prepare that fate motif.

In other words, they make
it retard, they slow down,

and I think that's a mistake.

I think Tchaikovsky was
building this frenzy,

this excitement, and then
abruptly he changes character

and this ominous fate motif
is looking over your shoulder.

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

As in the first movement,
the fate motif makes

a decrescendo, but this
time instead of the clarinet

and bassoon extending it
to go to the second theme,

the strings do it with this kind of ...

(light piano)

Very poignant.

(light piano)

And then we have this carnival starts.

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

The horns start.

The strings and woodwinds come in.

Horns again.

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

And it goes back and forth
and we have these cascading

scales between the
strings and the woodwinds.

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

The carnival's at hand.

We do the whole material
from the beginning.

It has the most glorious
ending, as I mentioned earlier,

with cymbal crashes galore and
obviously a tremendous ending

for this magnificent symphony.

("Symphony No.4" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)