(Winter Series)
Campoli (violin)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
(Leader, Paul Beard)
Conducted by Stanford Robinson From the concert at the Royal Albert Hall. London
Tchaikovsky
Waltz (The Sleeping Beauty) Violin Concerto in D
Symphony No. 5. in E minor
Sixty years have passed since this symphony was given to the world. Shortly before beginning work on it, in the summer of 1888. Tchaikovsky settled in a new house at Frolovskoe, between Klin and Moscow. There, in thickly wooded country, in view of the central Russian plains, he wrestled with his daemon, seeking and finding inspiration with some difficulty. He was passing through one of those phases known to almost all creative artists, when they wonder if they have shot their bolt and said all they have to say. Hven after the production of the work at St. Petersburg he remained doubtful. and wondered whether he was ' done for.' Within a few years, however, and particularly after performances of it conducted by Nikisch, the symphony achieved a phenomenal success, rivalling in popularity even Beethoven's No. 5.—Harold Rutland