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History records that, when the non-virtuoso pianist Peter Tchaikovsky decided to begin work on his first piano concerto, he turned to Nikolay Rubenstein for advice. Rubenstein listened to the first movement in complete silence, Tchaikovsky continued through the rest of the concerto and then asked Rubinstein for his opinion. Said Tchaikovsky, “a torent of abuse poured from Rubenstein's lips. 'The concerto was worthless, unplayable, clumsy, badly written, vulgar, plagiaristic, and needed to be thrown away and completely reworked.' Anyone would have thought I was a madman, a stupid, senseless hack who had come to lay this rubbish before a great musician.” Tchaikovsky responded by telling Rubenstein that the work would not be altered, that it would be published exactly as is. Fortunately for the music world, Tchaikovsky did publish his concerto in 1874, and his Piano Concerto No. 1 has become one of the most powerful, striking piano works of classical literature.

1. Piano Concerto in B flat minor Andante non troppo e motto maestoso 2. Mov. 2: Andantino Semplice 3. Mov. 3: Allegro con fuoco

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