Best Nutcracker Album?
I want to buy a copy of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet for my sister. However, like most classical music, it can only be as good as the musicians that play it. To the people who know this music well, could you point me in the direction of some of the best sounding albums? Thanks!
Comments(3)
I have a Greatest Tchaikovsky CD and it has the Nutcracker on it. I found it in the classical section of either the Wherehouse or Tower Records quite some years ago now. I’m sure you can still find one at virtually any versatile music store. Barnes & Noble has a pretty descent music section.
“best” is always a personal taste!
depends what you’re looking for. if you want to have the complete Nutcracker ballet i would suggest to get the one of the Kirov Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev.
in case you want to have only the most famous pieces of it, combined with the Swan Lake i would suggest the album by the NY Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
There are many “Nutcracker” recordings, most of them are very good.
Andre Previn conducts the London Symphony in a fine recording of “The Nutcracker” on the EMI label. Many people like the classic recording on London/DECCA by Ernest Ansermet and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. It has a lot of charm.
But my favorite, and my recommendation, is Antal Dorati and the London Symphony Orchestra on the Mercury/Philips label. Dorati was not only a great conductor of symphonic music but had a long career as the music director of the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. He really knows how to make the “Nutcracker” dance!
(If you belong to the BMG record club they have it at a very low price!)