Pyotr (Peter) Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893) was the first Russian composer to achieve international fame, which has outlasted his death and endures to this day. His ballets, like Swan Lake and the Nutcracker, his symphonies, operas, and concertos are played all over the world and listened to by ardent musical enthusiasts, swept away by his passionate Late-Romantic era melodies and musical structures. Unless you are already one of Tchaikovsky's legion of admirers, you'll probably be very pleasantly surprised to realize that you already know and love much of the music selected here from Tchaikovsky's wondrous oeuvre.
