Tchaikovsky’s “Winter Daydreams” with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal

May 6, 2019

This month, Pablo Heras-Casado conducts the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal on May 8 & 9 in a program of Tchaikovsky, Dutilleux, and Debussy. Heras-Casado will conduct the first two movements from Debussy’s Nocturnes: Nuages (“Clouds”) and Fêtes (“Festivals”). Debussy’s work was inspired by a series of impressionist paintings, also entitled Nocturnes by the American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler. French cellist Edgar Moreau interprets Dutilleux’s virtuosic Cello Concerto Tout un monde lointain…, considered one of the most important 20th-century additions to the cello repertoire.

The program will conclude with Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony, “Winter Daydreams”. This work was a source of turmoil for Tchaikovsky, who struggled to find his artistic voice beyond the conservative symphonic structures at the time. Despite his struggle, Tchaikovsky was one of the first to realize the distinctive Russian musical sound in the traditional symphonic form. His first symphony laid the foundation for the progression of his other five symphonies. Pablo recorded the work with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, released by harmonia mundi in 2016. Purchase links and more information is available via Pablo’s Recordings.