Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Classical Music, Sunday 29 May 2016, 9pm

Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Bolshoi ballet

Catherine turns her spotlight on the great Russian composer, Tchaikovsky.

On this week's show Catherine Bott asks the question, "How did Tchaikovsky become such a great composer?"

Her journey begins with the composer’s First Symphony, subtitled ‘Winter Daydreams’, and takes us to the pinnacle of his success as a great composer for the ballet and every other musical genre.

There’ll be music from Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, his Piano and Violin concertos, as well as a couple of less well-known masterpieces - the Piano Trio in A minor played by three of today's great artists – Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer and Mischa Maisky – and the Festival Coronation March.