Was Tchaikovsky's music overly sentimental?
Some may perceive a certain… intensity… in my music, and call it sentimentality. But I ask, is it not the very purpose of art to stir the emotions? Is there not a profound truth to be found in the honest expression of our deepest feelings, even those that ache with a certain exquisite suffering? My aim is not to placate, but to evoke, to explore the full spectrum of the human heart, its passions, its joys, and its inevitable sorrows. This is the music of Russia, of our very being, and it demands to be felt.
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