Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 & Francesca da Rimini

Paavo Järvi, Principal Conductor and Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich since October 2019, here launches a complete recording of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, the first in both his rich discography and that of the Swiss orchestra: ‘When I think of the Fifth Symphony, I think of vulnerability and hope. It looks directly into our soul. It is perhaps the finest of his symphonies. The famous horn solo moves me and enriches me every time I hear it . . . Unlike the Sixth, the Fifth still holds out hope for life.’ The symphonic poem Francesca da Rimini op.32 completes this programme. This dark and violent ‘symphonic fantasy after Dante’, a drama of jealousy, was premiered in 1877, at the same time as Swan Lake. "Narrative and architecture combined brilliantly in the first movement (of Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5), music which, like the succeeding Andante, can all too easily sag into sentimentality. Järvi steered a sensitive course, taking tempo liberties but welding them into an articulate expressive whole built on sonorous harmonic roots and a naturally breathed meter" Classical Source: Live review of Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 5 Jan 2020