After two volumes praised by the international press (Diapason d'Or, Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik etc.) the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich presents the third release in its Tchaikovsky cycle, featuring the Sixth Symphony and Romeo and Juliet. A boxed set of the orchestra’s complete Tchaikovsky recordings under Paavo Järvi is issued simultaneously (ALPHA778).

Tchaikovsky said he ‘put his entire soul’ into the Sixth Symphony. He admitted that his programme was ‘more subjective than ever’ and that he ‘often [...] wept copiously’ while working on it. The overall atmosphere is created by the sombre key of B minor and an obsessive sighing motif that recurs throughout the symphony. In Romeo and Juliet, Tchaikovsky focused on thematic areas, setting them to music in different ways: the peaceful, chorale-like gesture associated with Friar Lawrence in the introduction, the bitter struggle between the Capulet and Montague families, and the intoxicated love of Romeo and Juliet. The work ends with the return of a chorale of reconciliation and the transfiguration of the lovers.