Featured Book: Tchaikovsky by David Brown (cont'd)

Status of copy at Case Memorial Library
Mr. Brown writes about the Serenade for Strings: "The term 'serenade' has been given to many different musical styles and forms, but in this instance Tchaikovsky was applying it to a four-movement piece that is essentially a mini-symphony. The difference here lies in the nature of the music from which it is formed, and which does not seek to emulate the grandeur, either in scale or content, of a full-blown symphony; instead it is very direct in its material, and uncomplicated in its workings, aiming not to excite or move deeply, but simply to give delight in the best possible sense of the word. And this is exactly what it achieves. It is dependent above all on Tchaikovsky's supreme melodic gift, but this does not for one moment mean that it is a simplistic piece, or that Tchaikovsky will not unobtrusively draw in his more sophisticated skills where appropriate. We can hear this straight away in the first movement, described as Pezzo in forma di Sonatina ('Piece in the form of a Sonatina', that is, 'a little sonata'), a label that perfectly describes Tchaikovsky's unpretentious but captivating movement. …" (p. 226).