This collection really does offer most (although not all) of Tchaikovsky's best. It has a full cycle of all six symphonies (minus the unnumbered "Manfred" symphony), the incredibly recognizable Piano Concerto No 1, the Christmas favorite Nutcracker Ballet, the full-on Romantic-era Violin Concerto, Capriccio Italienne, Marche Slave, excerpts from Swan Lake, the Sleeping Beauty suite, the Romeo and Juliet overture, two full string quartets, "The seasons" set of 12 pieces for solo piano, and is capped off with the 1812 Overture -- arguably one of the densest collection of really catchy tunes ever assembled in 17 minutes of classical music, complete with cannon fire at the end.
These are strong performances and recordings overall, mostly by ensembles that do not generally make worldwide headlines. The Utah Symphony under Maurice Abravanel does an admirable job on the symphony cycle (I believe taken from this set). The Nutcracker by the Bonn Classical Philharmonics sounds as crowd-pleasing as ever. The London Symphony does a great job as usual with the piano concerto and 1812.
Still, not everything is perfect. The violin concerto is a thin-sounding recording -- neither the orchestra nor the soloist are tightly microphoned. The string quartets were recorded in an overly echoey room and sound kind of muddy. The track listing indicates the Nutcracker Suite (Op 71a), but it really includes the full Nutcracker Ballet (Op 71) -- even though the suite would have been better for this kind of a collection since there are a few more boring bits in the full ballet. Also, artist information is sometimes incomplete -- no soloist listed on the Piano Concerto, and no orchestra on the Violin Concerto.
Plus, there is an outright mistaken Track 77, which is supposed to be the aria from "The Snow Maiden", but which is in fact a hot jazz band with vibraphone and piano. Very strange, I trust Amazon will fix this?
But never mind the nitpicking -- the set is highly recommended overall, whether at the "Deal of the Day" price of $1.99 on Thanksgiving Day 2009, or at the regular price of $6.99. The symphony cycle alone is well worth the price!
(Regarding the price mix-up on November 26: I too bought the set today and then found it was $6.99 in the system instead of $1.99. Amazon issued me a full refund plus a promotional credit. Just send them a customer service complaint and you'll be refunded. In the meantime, they have already fixed the price, so this is no longer a concern.)
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