Peter Iljitsch Tschaikowsky

Concert Fantasia op. 56

Captivated by the playing of famed Franz Liszt pupil Eugen d'Albert during the 1883-1884 concert season, Peter Iljitsch Tschaikowsky (1840-1893) began work on Concert Fantasia. After an arduous composition process, on which the composer himself remarked, "I stopped playing around and came up with something... but it still sounded too poor and unoriginal..." Tchaikovsky laid aside Concert Fantasia and began sketching out his Third Orchestral Suite. He eventually returned to and finished Concert Fantasia in June of 1884, with the surprising addition of the second movement Contrastes. Originally composed as the first movement of his Third Orchestral Suite but ultimately rejected, Tchaikovsky reservedly added it as a second movement to Concert Fantasia. While recognizing and wishing to use the movement for its own merits, he still harbored doubts and added an alternative solo cadenza to the end of the first movement in case Contrastes was to be omitted. The Russian Musical Society under the direction of Max Erdmannsdörfer premiered the work in 1855. In the two decades after its debut, Concert Fantasia received many performances but disappeared from the repertoire until it underwent a revival in the latter part of the 20th century. Instrumentation: 3.2.2.2: 4.2.3.0: Timp.Perc(2): Str (9-8-7-6-5 in set): [Solo Piano].