Tchaikovsky's Symphonies 5 and 6 (#218, Topic N)

Last week, on my way to the Post Office, my car radio, set to WGMS, was just ready to broadcast the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Symphony #5. When I was at the U of Illinois, beginning with 1950 for three years, I used to like this piece, but I have not listened to it for several decades. So I paid some attention to its playing. I noted that the movement was dominated by wood instruments, played in a minor key -- slow, wooden, and moody -- and, frankly, it did not leave a positive impression. From this hearing, I realized that my general mood has also changed in the interim five decades. I recalled that, then, I liked Tchaikovsky's Symphony #6, the Pathetique, even better; it was even moodier, even more depressing, perhaps reflecting my general mood at the time. However, I did not have a chance to listen to it for just as long, and made a mental note to listen to a DVD soon. In today's Washington Post, there is a review of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra's 50th anniversary performance over the weekend. It began with Tchaikovsky's Symphony #6 -- and the reviewer wondered why the musical director selected that moody piece for this joyful celebratory occasion. Regardless, it seems that the reviewer shares my view that that piece is depressing. The FSO's performance continued with Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #3. I first heard this piece at the Kennedy Center a couple of years ago, when my sister and brother-in-law was visiting us from Los Angeles -- the soloist was China's Lang Lang, and the concert hall was full. The piece was said to be a very difficult one to play. In an attempt to understand this piece better, after that KC performance, I borrowed several DVDs from the local library, featuring this piece played by other pianits. The more I listened to it, the more unbearably depressing I felt. I realized that more listening would not be good to my mental health, so I stopped listening to it. All in all, it seems that my general mood has, over the last 50+ years, moved away from a pessimistic one to one less so. Perhaps it is good.