Piano Concerto No. 2 (Tchaikovsky)

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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, op. 44, was written in 1879-1880 and dedicated to Nikolai Rubinstein. Nikolai Rubinstein died in March 1881, however and so its premiere performance, which took place in Moscow on May 22, 1882, was conducted by Anton Rubinstein and featured Tchaikovsky's pupil, Sergei Taneyev, at the piano.

The piano concerto consists of three movements:

Allegro brillante e molto vivace
Andante non troppo
Allegro con fuoco

The second movement contains prominent solos for the violin and cello, making the work in effect a concerto for piano trio and orchestra briefly, though an edition by Alexander Siloti was once often played which removed large sections of the work, including those solos.

Tchaikovsky wrote two more works for piano and orchestra after the second: the concert fantasy, his opus 56 in 1884, and his third concerto, his opus 75, begun in 1893, with its second and third movements orchestrated by the same Sergei Taneyev. This third concerto is usually played with its first movement alone.

[edit] Orchestration

This concerto is scored for a medium-sized romantic orchestra. What is interesting to note is the absense of the low brass (trombones and tuba) that were, at this point, accepted members of the orchestra.