Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic era, one who seemed to straddle the musical worlds of east and west. He wrote music on a grand scale for operas, ballets and symphonies. His turbulent emotional life is born out in the clear turbulence of his music.

The 4th Symphony was written in 1877/78 after the excruciating breakup of his marriage that had lasted only one month. As Sophie explains in the episode, one thing that makes this work so special is that we have a record of the composer’s correspondence with his patroness Nadezdha von Meck in which he articulates precisely what he is doing in ‘our symphony’.

Despite the whole symphony sometimes being nicknamed ‘Fate’, Tchaikovsky wrote that fate is primarily represented by the insistent and invincible brass fanfare at the very start.

It has been relatively tricky to find out much about the photographer, Robin Farquharson. So far, I’ve discovered that he was born in Jamaica in 1944, went to boarding school in England and studied photography at Rhode Island School of Design (1965-68). If you know more about him, or especially if Robin can get in touch with us, we’d love to hear more!

The Crooner and I saw his photograph Stony Ground on display at the National Gallery of Jamaica back in July 2023 when I was in the country for a work trip. (Incidentally, it’s a super gallery and deserves a far higher profile.)

Some other related links:

Born in 1961 to Canadian parents on a NATO base in West Germany, Douglas Coupland is a successful novelist, artist and designer based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture was his breakout novel, first published in 1991, narrated by ‘Andy’ about his life with his two friends Dag and Clare, in Coachella Valley, Southern California.

This is a great introduction to Coupland’s writing by a friend, Andrew Tate (no, NOT that Andrew Tate).

For more information about Coupland’s extraordinarily diverse work, check out his official website.