Album: Daniel Barenboim, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Tchaikovsky/Schoenberg (Decca)

This splendid recording of Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, whose young players hail from all sides of the various Middle East divides, displays their consummate harmonious communality in their interpretations of these two pieces.

The WEDO expertly embody both the exuberance of the penultimate movement of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 (the "Pathetique") and the melancholy beauty of its framing outer sections. Its emotional heart is contrasted with the more cerebral approach of Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra, whose short sections present a constantly shifting terrain.

DOWNLOAD THIS Variations for Orchestra; Symphony No 6