Tchaikovsky composed the Russian rural scene 'Dumka' in just a few days in late February 1886. 'Dumka' is originally the name of an epic and historical South West Slavic folk song of a melancholy nature. In Tchaikovsky's Op. 59, the elegiac andante cantabile forms the framework of the fast middle section in which brief formulaic thoughts, newly varied and increasing in virtuosic intensity, display fireworks of pianistic brilliance. Being his only 'Morceau de Concert', this piece occupies a speci...