Album: Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 5 / Hamlet – Nelsons / CBSO (Orfeo)

The symphonic debut of a new conductor and orchestra partnership is always an event. Long associated with contemporary music, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra tears into the first of a cycle of Tchaikovsky's symphonies for the German label Orfeo under its young Latvian music director Andris Nelsons.

Sleek and full-bodied, almost brazen, the performance is not so much a revelation as a confirmation of Nelsons' dynamism. The Hamlet overture is similarly heady.