Robert Gauldin, Tragic Love and Musical Memory

Example 5. Unusual features of Tchaikovsky's Bb minor Piano Concerto (1874), which may have provided the bases for Nikolai Rubinstein's negative criticisms, followed by possible "programmatic" explanations relating to his romantic relationship with Artôt.

I. First movement:  5a  5b  5c  5d  5e  5f     II. Second movement:  5g  5h  5i  5j     III. Third movement:  5k  5l
 

d.    The strange absence of the piano during the lengthy first section of the development. -- This section focuses on an gradual intensification of the previous "reminiscence" theme (note allusions to Artôt's Db - A), possibly portraying their own deepening romantic involvement. Its climax prepares the dramatic double-octave entry of the soloist.