Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, ‘Pathétique’

Tchaikovsky described his final symphony as “the best thing I have composed or will ever compose“. At the height of his powers, Tchaikovsky overturned many of the conventions of the symphony. The second movement, which at first sounds like a graceful waltz, in fact has an unsettling five beats in a bar; the third ends with a blaze of brass and percussion which would have made the perfect triumphant finale; and the actual finale ends with a devastating descent into silence. 00:00 Title 00:30 I. Adagio – Allegro non troppo 18:55 II. Allegro con grazia 26:20 III. Allegro molto vivace 35:27 IV. Finale: Adagio lamentoso Watch the rest of the videos in our “Santtu conducts Tchaikovsky“ playlist here: You can watch all our videos with Santtu here: Watch the rest of our Streamed from Southbank Centre videos here: h