(Tchaikovsky's music most definitely reflects the "tone" of Mother Russia!)

Tschaikovsky? Bah, humbug!!! Balakirev, da, Borodin, da, Mussorgsky, da, Glinka, da, Ippolitov-Ivanov, da, often Rimsky-Korsakov, even Prokofiev, but that Muscovite composer of Western music? NYET!!! I will say especially Mussorgsky, who made a deliberate attempt to imitate spoken language in his songs and operas.

The "Mighty Five," as they were sometimes called (Balakirev, Borodin, Cui, R-K and Mussorgsky) banded together to create a truly "Russian" music to counterpoise the Western European influences of that other guy.