Pytor Illych Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker - Complete Ballet

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Although Gergiev is highly experienced in the theater, and he is leading an opera-ballet orchestra, this is definitely a concert Nutcracker. Tempos are brisk, textures streamlined, and dancers might have a good deal of difficulty keeping up with the music. For us home listeners, though, this is a superb way to hear Tchaikovsky's complete score and to remind ourselves of how much good music isn't included in the familiar suite. Gergiev justifies his reputation as an interpreter and as an orchestra leader, getting amazingly precise playing from the ensemble. Best of all, Philips has somehow crammed more than 81 minutes of superb sound onto this disc, making it a remarkable bargain. Very highly recommended! --Leslie Gerber

Pytor Illych Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker - Complete Ballet, Music, Valery Gergiev, Kirov Orchestra and Choir, Tchaikovsky, Ballet, Christmas / Chanukkah, Christmas Music, Classical, Romantic Ballet, Xmas Classical Instrumental

Average customer rating:

The Nutcracker - Complete Ballet

Crisp Recording

Julia Abakaeva

A rockin' good time!

Don't Let The Word Kirov Fool You!!!

Pytor Illych Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker - Complete Ballet
Valery Gergiev , Kirov Orchestra and Choir , and Tchaikovsky
Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music
All Works by Tchaikovsky | Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich | ( T ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
Ballets & Dances | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General Christmas | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
Classical Instrumental | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
General Christmas | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music
Classical Instrumental | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music
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ASIN: B00000A1GL
Release Date: 1998-10-20

Tracks:

The Nutcracker - Overture
The Nutcracker - 1 The Christmas Tree
The Nutcracker - 2 March
The Nutcracker - 3 Galop and Dance of the Parents
The Nutcracker - 4 Dance Scene - The Presents of Drosselmeyer
The Nutcracker - 5 Scene - Grandfather Dance
The Nutcracker - 6 Clara and the Nutcracker
The Nutcracker - 7 The Nutcracker battles against the Army of the Mouse King - He wins and is transformed into Prince Charming
The Nutcracker - 8 In the Christmas tree
The Nutcracker - 9 Scene and Waltz of the Snowflakes
The Nutcracker - 10 The Magic Castle on the Mountain of Sweets
The Nutcracker - 11 Clara and Prince Charming
The Nutcracker - 12a Character Dances (Divertissement): Chocolate (Spanisch Dance)
The Nutcracker - 12b Character Dances (Divertissement): Coffe (Arabian Dance)
The Nutcracker - 12c Character Dances (Divertissement): Tea (Chinese Dance)
The Nutcracker - 12d Character Dances (Divertissement): Trk (Russian Dance)
The Nutcracker - 12e Character Dances (Divertissement): Dance of the Reed Pipes
The Nutcracker - 12f Character Dances (Divertissement): Polichinelle (The Clown)
The Nutcracker - 13 Waltz of the Flowers
The Nutcracker - 14a Pas de deux: Intrada
The Nutcracker - 14b Pas de deux: Variation I (Tarantella)
The Nutcracker - 14c Pas de deux: Variation II (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy)
The Nutcracker - 14d Pas de deux: Coda
The Nutcracker - 15 Closing Waltz - Grand Finale

Amazon.com

Although Gergiev is highly experienced in the theater, and he is leading an opera-ballet orchestra, this is definitely a concert Nutcracker. Tempos are brisk, textures streamlined, and dancers might have a good deal of difficulty keeping up with the music. For us home listeners, though, this is a superb way to hear Tchaikovsky's complete score and to remind ourselves of how much good music isn't included in the familiar suite. Gergiev justifies his reputation as an interpreter and as an orchestra leader, getting amazingly precise playing from the ensemble. Best of all, Philips has somehow crammed more than 81 minutes of superb sound onto this disc, making it a remarkable bargain. Very highly recommended! --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews:

The Nutcracker - Complete Ballet.......2007-01-20

This was a gift to my Granddaughter. She is in College and she told me it was wonderful. She said she loved it.

Crisp Recording.......2007-01-11

I
love the nutcracker ballet, especially the wizened hearthside warmth of the music. Gergiev has certainly fired up the Mariinsky for this one. Was there an other worldly intuition that inspired him to find and revel in a tight rousing theatre of the absurd that no one else has ever seen before in Pytor's composition, who knows but it is quite a nonsensical wash like this; not at all the pacing that is conducive to entering the atmosphere of enchanting mystery that makes the nutcracker a glorious ballet or any kind of enthralling experience, more like something delightful to put in the car's disc player fifteen minutes before rush hour if one is in a hurry to catch a plane. This is after all very detailed music but forget
about it Val is not letting you in with the whole orchestra in the van
late for another rehearsal or whatever really happens to be the case.

Julia Abakaeva.......2006-12-16

This not The Nutcracker-Complete Ballet!!! It's a recording of 6 pieces of Tchaikovsky's music that have nothing to do with The Nutckracker Ballet. Total number of tracks on the CD is 6 vs 24 promised in the booklet inside the CD.

A rockin' good time!.......2006-11-29

First let me say WOW!!!
This recording is about as good as cd quality will allow and the performance is alive and engaging. It is as near perfect as I imagine it could be. The orchestra plays as tight as a good quartet and thier enthusiasm shows thru in spades.
Even a non classical music fan will love it.

Don't Let The Word Kirov Fool You!!!.......2006-09-29

Anyone who thinks that this recording of "The Nutcracker" is on any level exceptional is out of their mind. There are a zillion recordings of "The Nutcracker", whether complete or of excerpts, and for ballet theatre many of these recordings are useless. Alot of famous symphonic conductors have had a hand at recording ballet music, and at least to ballet dancers (the people they were written for) mostly without success - for example Seiji Ozawa conducting "Swan Lake" is like Adam Sandler performing Shakespeare. What makes one a great conductor of symphonic music does not necessarily make one a good conductor of ballet music, and only a very small percentage of the conductors of any recording of "The Nutcracker" or any other ballet have ever conducted a live ballet . As far as I am concerned only a ballet conductor should conduct ballet music.

As a ballet dancer, historian, and a collector of 19th century ballet music, I must say that this is the most appalling recording I have ever heard of "The Nutcracker". Mind you, it is not because of the quality of performance from the orchestra, but of the way the music is handled by Gergiev when conducting so sacred an orchestra as the Kirov/Mariinsky. I find it interesting that Victor Fedotov, perhaps the greatest conductor of ballet music in modern times (who was still alive when this recording was produced) conductor of nearly every ballet performance at the Mariinsky Theatre for over 30 years, was not the one chosen to conduct this recording. Would it not make sense to have the ballet conductor conduct the ballet orchestra in a recording of the ballet music???

The fact that this ballet was all jam-packed onto one CD should be a dead give away as to how horribly raced through and edited the music. This recording has rushed, mathematically maintained tempi (the usual defect with recorded ballet music in the hands of a symphonic conductor), an over bearing brass section, edited passages (optional repeats) - the potential the music has that usually only a ballet conductor can give it is completely gone, as the music is in no way allowed to breathe.

One reviewer on this page says "Tchaikovsky is said to have written the work originaly in a faster tempo than is usualy performed. However, over the years, dancers complained about the brisk pace at which they were to perform. And so, the tempo is now played slower." This statement is horribly incorrect. "The Nutcracker" was written as all 19th century ballet was written - to order - Tchaikovsky was given instructions on what to write by Marius Petipa, and the original performance score does not specify tempo with words. For example "allegro moderato", etc. is nowhere to be found in the variations, as ballet music of the period was played at the preferred speed of the dancer.

Gergiev's recording of Tchaikovsky's original score for "The Sleeping Beauty" doesn't hold a candle to Victor Fedotov's recording of the Kirov Ballet performance score (with all of the proper modifications one only hears in performance).

Whatever Gergiev's strengths are as a conductor of opera or symphony, they are sorely lacking in his conducting of ballet music (Gergiev rarely conducts ballets at the Mariinsky, and it isnt his favorite thing to do) and this recording of "The Nutcracker", just like Gergiev's recording of "The Sleeping Beauty" shows this.

The best recording of "The Nutcracker" you can get is by Richard Bonynge with the National Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducts exactly as the music would be for the stage, and the recording is well balanced, without one section drowning out another. Also there is Sir Chalres Mackares's recording with the London Symphony for the Pacific Northwest Ballet's movie version of "The Nutcracker". Another is by Eugene Ormandy with the Philedelphia Orchestra, though only excerpts.

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