Tchaikovsky wrote of his Fourth Symphony that “None of my earlier works for orchestra has given me such trouble, but on none have I lavished such love and devotion”.
Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic lavish love and devotion, too, on the Third, and bring a sinuous, balletic charm to the music. The Fourth sets a different tone straight away with its glowering brass fanfare, and the Sixth, the Pathétique, is altogether more grave.
There's plenty of fresh thinking behind the fervour of Petrenko's approach, and both the balanced weight and fleetness of the Liverpool orchestra's playing might make fans of Irish orchestras want to echo the lady in the film When Harry Met Sally who says, "I'll have what she's having."
