Tchaikovsky's twelve short 'character pieces' representing each month of the year were originally composed for solo piano. They were published as "The Seasons" and each had subtitles and poetic epigraphs. 'May' was subtitled "Starlit Nights" and its epitaph reads: "What a night! What bliss all about! I thank my native north country! From the kingdom of ice, from the kingdom of snowstorms and snow, how fresh and clean May flies in!"

The work has been orchestrated several times and the 'month'' heard here comes from the complete arrangement of "The Seasons" by British composer David Matthews. It is played by the Norddeutsche Rundfunk Orchestra, conductor Carl Davis, and is taken from a 1991 radio broadcast of the work's first performance.