Tchaikovsky began to write art songs early in his career. From the very beginning it was music of great ingenuity, melodic appeal and a natural flow of emotions. By creating a remarkably memorable musical image in the first bars, then by developing it he transformed the song into a compact and expressive musical poem and achieved a powerful emotional impact, sometimes bordering on the melodramatic. This anthology includes some of the finest art songs that Tchaikovsky composed throughout his enti...