It is probable that Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor has been performed and recorded more than any other piano concerto in the course of the twentieth century. This work received its first public performance by the distinguished pianist Hans von Bülow in Boston in 1875. In 1891, with Tchaikovsky conducting and Adèle aus der Ohe as soloist, it was the first concerto ever heard in Carnegie Hall.

This immensely popular work is among the first of Tchaikovsky's important composit...