Philharmonia Chamber Players: Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky only wrote three complete string quartets. Astonishingly the first was written in just a few weeks, when he realised he needed more material for a concert of his chamber music at the Moscow Conservatory. It’s a richly rewarding listen.

The second movement, marked Andante cantabile (singing), is a tender reworking of a Ukrainian folk song – the story goes that Tchaikovsky heard a housepainter whistling the melody.

It soon became an audience favourite, and not just with any old audience – after one memorable Moscow performance, Tchaikovsky wrote in his diary, ‘Never in my life have I felt so flattered and proud of my creative ability as when Leo Tolstoy, sitting next to me, heard my andante with tears coursing down his cheeks.’