A Witches' Sabbath, A Little Dance with the Grim Reaper and The Battle on the Ice. The author of the programme booklet of this album, Hartmut Luck, gave these headings to the three magnificent works recorded for OehmsClassics by the Gurzenich Orchestra with Dmitrij Kitajenko. The Gurzenich Orchestra of Cologne and its Honorary Conductor since 2009, Dmitrij Kitajenko, have been united in an outstanding collaboration lasting over the course of decades. Their Tchaikovsky cycle, already now considered a reference recording, was completed in early 2014 with the Seventh Symphony and the Third Piano Concerto. Their recording of Tchaikovsky's one act opera Iolanta issued in the summer of 2015, with Olesya Golovneva, Alexander Vinogradov and Andrei Bondarenko in the leading roles, created a sensation and received outstanding reviews in the international specialist press. This highly successful artistic collaboration was continued with an equally highly praised Rachmaninoff cycle. The Gurzenich Orchestra of Cologne and Dmitrij Kitajenko have dedicated their latest recording to Tchaikovsky's complete ballet music to The Nutcracker as well as Stravinsky's Divertimento from The Fairy's Kiss.