Search - Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Antal Dorati, Harold Lawrence :: Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Complete)/ Serenade in C Major/ Dorati

A Timeless Holiday Classic, Masterful Recording

Rachel Garret | Beverly Hills | 12/17/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Antal Dorati was the Toscanini for ballet music as well as Tchaikovsky's music. In the 60's and 70's, he conducted all over Europe and recorded LP's for distribution in America. This Nutcracker was orginally an LP, the Nutcracker in its entirety with the addition of Tchaikovsky's Serenade For Strings. There are many fine interpretations of the beloved Christmas classic, one of which Charles Mackerras' version strikes us as the best. But Dorati has precision and perfectionist zeal that makes the score to the ballet sound more true to the Russian spirit that Tchaikovsky blended with European elegance and symphonic treatment. Sentimentality was always Tchaikovsky's strong points, endowed with musical genius and tonal color and lavished attention to every individual instrument. The original liner notes for the LP are to be found here, documenting the life of Tchaikovsky and the background for his creating the ballet based on E.T.A. Hoffman's dark fairy tale, The Nutcracker. It is the tale of Clara, how one evening at a family Christmas party she was given a Nutcracker as a toy, how it magically comes to life and defeats the Mouse King and his minions. Clara is whisked away into the magical dream world of Act 2. Through divertissements, dance sequences with no plot to further the story, she encounters Spanish dancers, an Arab dancer, Chinese dancers, Russian Trepak dancers and an incredibly sweeping, romantic Waltz of Flowers. There is solo for the Nutcracker who has become a Prince by Act 2 and a pas de deux between him and Clara. The Pas De Deux is without question, the most romantic, intense and symphonic number in the whole ballet, evoking a climatic union of beauty and that dark fatalism that seems to permeate a lot of Tchaikovsky's music. For the Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky used celeste, a variation of the piano instrument, in the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and was very proud that the other Russian composers, Mussorgsky and Borodin had not beat him to it.This is the best recording avaible and it is a bonus that it comes with a well orchestrated Serenade For Strings, a melodic, well structured piece of string music that Tchaikovsky wrote as a tribute to the Countess Von Meck who inspired his music and sponsored him financially. It is light, it is dark and it is rich in string symphonic style. Tchaikovsky's music is at best the most romantic and inspiring of his time. Kudos for the producers of this fine recording.For years, I have been a collector of ballet music and have taught dance as well. Tchaikovsky was a brilliant man, a tortured man, whose sexuality was forbidden by Russian law and who out of the depths of his pain, forged the most beautiful and most seriously romantic music of the nineteenth century, finding himself the equal to Beethoven."

Best available? Maybe, but not best ever.

Dvd Avins | Kendall Park, NJ USA | 01/24/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Beware. Dorati made two LPs of Nutcracker with the Minneapolis Symphony. One of them showed Dorati at his best, where you could hear the strings sing -- changing vowel sounds -- even more beautifully than in his incomparable recording of the 1812 Overture with the same orchestra. This CD uses the cover art of that all-time-best, but it is actually the other Dorati-Minneapolis Nutcracker. It's very good, but it's not on a level with the one they took that cover art from."

The Best Complete Nutcracker Ever

TchaikJP | Houston, TX United States | 12/27/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Out of so many recordings of Tchaikovsky's famous ballet, this one stays true to the playful, fairy tale roots of the nutcracker. Dorati brings the LondonSO to its peak by defining the strings with gritty attack, and everything very marked and precise without taking away from the musical beauty. Its amazing how "The Waltz of the Fowers" and the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" -both hackneyed- sparkle with new life. This refreshing recording brings the spirit of christmas into your house at any time of the year like no other recording can."