Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 5; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No 4

Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony: Refined passion

Advantages: Great passion, beautiful melodies, unrestrained romanticism
Disadvantages: The finale doesn't quite convince in it's purpose

HAPPINESS, OR TRAGEDY? After the doom-laden confessional that was the Fourth Symphony, Tchaikovsky was finally getting more in peace with himself. His fame began to spread and by 1885 he was already considered a national hero. This time saw the maturation of Tchaikovsky's style from the more blatantly folk-song oriented works and the more youthfully turbulent ideas to a more mainstream and calmer drift. Following the Fourth Symphony came the Violin Concerto, the Second Piano Concerto, the colourful overtures Capriccio Italien (composed during his bright stay at Italy) and 1812 (with the famous cannon-fire finale), the subtle String Serenade, the elegiac Piano Trio, a couple of small operas, and the large scale Manfred Symphony, amid some smaller scale works, all predominately genial in character. In 1888, after getting over his fear ...

berlioz 26.08.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

Tchaikovsky's Fourth

Advantages: Very exciting and powerful piece of emotional hysteria
Disadvantages: If you're obsessed with classical form and beauty, then this might just be too much

taken seriously as forwarding their cause, and therefore his career suffered, most notably in the hands of Cui, the most ardent and influential critic of Russia. However, things were not always so. Enrolling into the newly founded St.Petersburg Conservatory after taking a job as a clerk in the St.Petersburg Ministry of Justice, Tchaikovsky was not slow in attracting the attention of Balakirev. Beginning with some smaller scale piano and string quartet works, Tchaikovsky's first, truly ambituous work came in the form of his First Symphony ("Winter Daydreams") of 1866, which almost caused him a nervous breakdown. This was followed by the opera The Voyevoda and shortly later by his first undoubted masterpiece, the fantasy overture Romeo and Juliet, the love theme of which Balakirev was particularly fond of. A lesser known work however ...

berlioz 04.08.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4

Chanel No. 5 - eternal Femininity.

Advantages: sensual and feminine floral hart, good staying powder
Disadvantages: aldehydes - not everyone is used to this smell; can be found old-fashioned

Chanel No. 5 will always remain a controversial perfume. Although used and praised for decades it's still a love or hate fragrance. I think it's because of aldehydes, the most important constituents of this fragrance. They possess a waxy, fatty smell that often makes think on washed and dried clothe. Aldehydes are found in nature (for example in a citrus peel), but never in amounts used in Chanel No. 5. That makes this smell a bit unnatural from one side, but it also gives an interesting exotic twist. In my opinion EDP is much softer than EDT version - the aldehydes are less sharp and the floral bouquet is more prominent. On my skin it starts with a fresh citrus note that slightly fades into a floral hart of orange blossom, rose and jasmine. An ultimate feminine bouquet, but modernized with waxy sharpness of the aldehydes ...

VirtuMax 09.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Chanel No.5 Eau De Parfum Spray