#140 The Smell of Failure

This is a fight and the fight is lost. It's not a fair fight, and you are fighting not only the others but yourself as well. It's violent, bloody, and you will die.

Orchestral sound is rich, with excellent solos. Petrenko focuses on details and exposes all the micro rhythms and drama.

Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: Manfred Symphony, IV. Allegro con fuoco
Recording: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko

#137 The Smell of Snowflake

Coming from monotone heavy sky, just one and only, a snowflake. Dancing in wind, going up and down, waiting for a sun beam to shine on it–to be sparkling, to be beautiful. And then, second, third... the air is full of them and they're all the same and they're all uninteresting.

Matsuev makes the lovely music sing. Soft, romantic touch... one can get intoxicated very easily.

Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: The Seasons, V. May - White Nights
Recording: Denis Matsuev

#106 The Smell of Sunrise

This piece is charged with positive energy. Everything goes up, everything grows and shines. Truly a magical world. Moreover, it's wonderfully recorded, so you can really follow different musical flows and be astonished how they intertwist and merge together.

This recording is from 1972 but there's still a touch of young Bernstein: swift tempos, fire, spontaneity. Is it even possible that strings can smile like that?

Composer: Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: Nutcracker Suite, 1. Miniature Overture
Recording: New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein

#92 The Smell of Reaching Out

These are strong musical waves and a great example of  big architecture. The forces are in motion and one does need to dance high to keep up with them.

Berman does not try to shine, he's not pushing the romantic line. His account is both bold and subtle–and very compact; the same goes for BPO. The evil essence Karajan is able to extract from the orchestral playing at 2'17'' or at 6'16'' is blood-stopping.

Composer: Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: Piano concerto No 1, I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso
Recording: Lazar Berman, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan

#77 The Smell of Storm

These are dark, stormy times. Rainy sabbatical night. Hell. The music is dramatic and mischievous. Evil is rising. Farewell, Francesca.

Munch generates suspension, he's wild and unforgiving. Even in the middle calm section, he's the dark master.

Composer: Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: Francesca da Rimini
Recording: Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch

#73 The Smell of Separation

This is like four orchestras playing in sync. The sound is so separated you can follow just strings, or woodwinds, or brasswinds, or timpani. I wonder how that really sounded in 1946. Did Boston Symphony Hall shatter?

Koussevitzky delivers stormed, roaring performance. BSO is sound and clear. This is not Mravinsky's predacity, the means are different. The ends, however, are very similar.

Composer: Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: Symphony No 6, III. Allegro molto vivace
Recording: Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky

#65 The Smell of Supremacy

This is a proud, absolute claim: I have nothing to lose, death is here for everyone. The music supports the words, it's fatal and fatalistic. Even when Herman also cries, the music is aloof and predetermined.

Herman sings "today it's you, tomorrow it's me" but it's he who will kill himself in the next minute. There's a breakdown in the second verse, we feel how lonely Herman is, we feel cold (1'13''), and yet he stands up again, face up, as strong as never before.

Composer: Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: The Queen of Spades, "Chto nasha zhizn?"
Recording: Gegam Grigorian, Kirov Opera and Orchestra, Valery Gergiev

#43 The Smell of Gunpowder

The cellos in the beginning are articulate, wild. You can hardly find such a sound in new recordings (this one is from 1958). You are expecting something to come and you're not failed–the omnivorous pressure explodes at 1'53''. And it all continues, combining different moods together, like that military march together with a romantic line at 3'40''. Marseillaise and God Preserve the Czar!

And here comes the original scoring: symphony orchestra augmented by brass band, church bells (74 bells of Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon), and cannon (Napoleon's bronze cannon "Le Constant" from 1775). Inspiring music for this sunny Saturday.

Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: 1812 Festival Overture
Recording: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, University of Minnesota Brass Band, Antal Dorati

#34 The Smell of Power

This Andante is a great opening of the symphony. Nothing but strings (except for the first violins) and clarinets conjure a depressive melody full of pauses and musings. It's starting up and backing out, bassoons are joining in but we need to wait to allegro–an obscure curly waltz in 6/8–to get the full orchestra sound.

And what a sound it is! Mravinsky delivers a shivering and sensual performance. I would not say it's about precise playing–there's something more. You know what the orchestra is capable of (well, not really until the last movement) and you know Mravinsky will not let it go yet. It's his smell.

Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: Symphony No 5, I. Andante–Alegro con anima
Recording: Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Evgeny Mravinsky

#23 The Smell of Natalie Portman

For me, the finale of Swan Lake was never beautiful. It's a nervous, fragile, unstable piece of music. The main theme goes too fast, the pauses in harmonies are scary, the harp rhythm is perverse.

After watching the film Black Swan, the demons are even worse and darker. The dreadful, lethal music cries for help but the rising sun is black.

Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: Swan Lake Suite, IV. Finale
Recording: Wiener Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan