Complete Tone Poems
There are some very pleasant surprises here. Not all of this music is  top-drawer Tchaikovsky, but the composer also wrote what can only be called very  good "bad music." In other words, if something's lacking in melodic  charm or formal sophistication, he usually hides it behind a higher-than-average  orchestral excitement and hysteria quotient.Fatumis a perfect example:  it's slow to get going, but before you know it it's slamming you through the  roof on its way to a rousing conclusion, and your overwhelming impression is  that you've had a very good time. This may be the weakest work on the disc--all  of the others are very good, and a bunch are masterpieces, so if you want all of  the Tchaikovsky tone poems in one bargain set, this is a good pick.--David  Hurwitz