Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 23 
   I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso 
   II. Andantino semplice
   III. Allegro con fuoco

Composed 1875; Duration: 33 minutes

First BPO Performance: December 16, 1941 (Leonard Shure, piano; Franco Autori, conductor)

Last BPO Performance: October 14-15, 2022 (Tony Siqi Yun, piano; Mei-Ann Chen, conductor)

In 1875, Tchaikovsky was not quite famous, but the 35-year-old—notoriously sensitive—was no longer a student seeking criticism from his peers. He played the score of his new first piano concerto for his trusted friend, pianist Nikolai Rubinstein, who reacted to the score with painful silence. Rubinstein embodied the ethos of a corner of Russian academic musicianship that sought Western validation through a conservative approach. He complained about impossible passages, uneven scoring, and perhaps was taken aback by some dangerous key changes. Tchaikovsky had no qualms pushing boundaries, but was dispirited by Rubinstein, whom he hoped would perform the work.

The famously tense encounter with Rubinstein was fortuitous for Tchaikovsky. Refusing to change a note, he found another pianist outside of Russia in Hans von Bülow (the German conductor-to-be), who eagerly championed the piece. All the more fortunate, von Bülow was on the eve of an American tour, and would premiere Tchaikovsky’s new concerto half a world away in Boston. 

The opening movement is bravely constructed with a massive introduction, first with brooding horns, followed by a heroic melody heard in bravura strings. The pianist uses bold strokes with arpeggiated chords, then takes the melody for an intensely rhythmicized variation. A foreboding cadenza harkens to the opening horn figure and returns to the sweeping heroic melody, finally fading into quietude. The particularly long introduction sets the tone for the whole work as the movement’s exposition opens with a Ukrainian melody that acrobatically skips across the keyboard, contrasted by a subdued chorale. The opening movement is filled with the opposition of a brutally attacking piano and serene lyricism. The development fragments the movement’s themes in episodes that reveal a variety of inventive textures and moods, concluding with another grasping cadenza that falls into the return of the primary melodies.

The grandiose opening movement finds respite in the simple second, which opens with atmospheric time-setting pizzicato and a delicate flute melody, repeated by the piano. The pastoral scene develops playfully, with the piano pushing the tempo with a quietly jovial country dance. The sweet opening melody makes a charming return to close the movement. 

The calming placidity of the central movement only provides temporary reprieve, for the finale is a fiery jaunt in a rousing triple meter. After an exclamatory introduction, the piano jumps in with the primary staccato theme, answered by a booming orchestral tutti. A rondo, the movement has contrasting episodes inserted in between repetitions of this initial music, lyrically wandering or energetically flowing. The orchestra builds to a demanding fortissimo from the soloist, leading to a broad melody sung by the whole orchestra. The energy becomes frantic as the concerto races to its conclusion.