Pentatone Exclusive

Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker: Complete Ballet [Double Album]

Alexander Vedernikov, Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow

17,9930,99
(2 press reviews)
Clear
Original Recording Format: DSD 64
Quality and Channels Help

Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker: Complete Ballet (Double Album) is a Stereo and 5 Channel Surround Sound DSD 64 release from Alexander Vedernikov conducting the Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow.

During a journey through Italy in 1882, Peter Tchaikovsky received a parcel in the post from a friend containing a book with the fairy tale Nutcracker and the Mouse King. This was, however, in the French adaptation Histoire d’un casse-noi-sette, which Alexandre Dumas senior had published in 1844.

The original by the German author E.T.A. Hoffmann was published at Christmastime in 1816, and was included at the time in the collection Die Serapionsbrüder. A contemporary review stated that the text was hardly a fairy tale, “but the rogue only takes on the mask of the child, in order to make fun of decent people by means of words and gestures in an even more amusing manner”.

This story depicts “a complete world with all its fantastic objects, the way this presents itself to the fearful, innocent and yet greedy soul of a child (of the girl Marie of noble birth) in a delightful dream”: i.e. as a battle of the good (the dolls and toys) against the evil (the mice in the girl’s bedroom) in a fantastic Kingdom of Sweets, to which Marie is transported through mysterious doors by the Nutcracker, her Christmas present.

Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow
Alexander Vedernikov, Conductor

Tracklist

Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.
1.
Overture
03:12
2.
Decoration of the Christmas tree
04:01
3.
March
02:26
4.
Children's galop and entry of the parents
02:34
5.
Arrival of Drosselmayer
06:06
6.
The Nutcracker and Grandfather dance
07:07
7.
Departure of the guests. Night.
07:13
8.
The battle and transformation scene
03:37
9.
The forest of fir trees in winter
03:53
10.
Waltz of the snowflakes
07:09
11.
The enchanted palace of the kingdom of sweets
04:09
12.
Arrival of Clara and the Nutcracker
04:38
13.
Chocolate - Spanish Dance
01:14
14.
Coffee - Arabian Dance
03:24
15.
Tea - Chinese Dance
01:04
16.
Trepak - Russian Dance
01:08
17.
Dance of the Toy Flutes
02:42
18.
Mother Gigogne and the clowns
02:49
19.
Waltz of the flowers
07:00
20.
Pas de deux - The Prince and the Sugar-Plum Fairy
05:06
21.
Variation I (Tarantella)
00:47
22.
Variation II (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy)
02:14
23.
Coda
01:24
24.
Final waltz and apotheosis
05:32
25.
"From ""Swan Lake"" Op. 20 - Introduction (orch. Vissarion Shebalin) Violin solo: Inna Li"
04:37
26.
"From ""Swan Lake"" Op. 20 - Variation 1 (orch. Vissarion Shebalin)"
00:53
27.
"From ""Swan Lake"" Op. 20 - Variation 2 (orch. by the composer)"
00:52
28.
"From ""Swan Lake"" Op. 20 - Coda (orch. Vissarion Shebalin)"
02:33
29.
"From ""Eugene Onegin"" Op. 24 - Polonaise (Act 3)"
05:00

Total time: 01:44:24

Additional information

Label

SKU

PTC5186091

Qualities

, , , , , ,

Channels

, ,

Artists

,

Composers

Genres

,

Awards

Conductors

Instruments

Original Recording Format

Producer

Job Maarse

Recording Engineer

Jean Marie Geijsen, Roger de Schot

Recording location

Moscow

Recording Software

Merging / Pyramix

Recording Type & Bit Rate

DSD64

Release DateMay 1, 2015

Press reviews

HRAudio.Net 4 out of 5

Vedernikov molds phrases very seductively and entices a playing style that is akin to the response the Mikhail Pletnev can elicit from the RNO in ballet music. All the phrases have a lift and grace to them which is entirely beguiling and does complete justice to the ecstatic sections of the piece. There is a distinctive Russian approach to timbre and tuning – perhaps necessary in this music!

Those who are wondering if the “set piece” numbers are well executed can be assured that they are indeed fabulously well played. All the textures are clean and polished for the items that make up the suite that is shamefully more famous than the complete ballet. The children in the waltz at the end of Act I are delightful and crown the glistening flourishes with an innocent purity that is a joy to behold.

The pacing is firmly in the central tradition – nothing overly fast nor ponderously slow. The area where some might have doubts is the conception of the whole that is evinced by Vedernikov. There is little in the way of steering an emotional journey that many interpreters have attempted to find in bygone eras but I am perfectly happy that this strategy was not pursued. This is a fantasy of almost complete delight and I find it hard to reconcile a musical journey that evokes Mahler with this piece.

In the end, I could not help but falling deeply in love with the music all over again – something that the performers must surely gain some credit for their effect on me! I have found it increasingly difficult to abstain from these selections. To further enhance our enjoyment, Pentatone has offered us two encores.

The first is the reasonably substantial extract from Swan Lake which I hope, as it is very difficult to perform the complete ballet as an encore, that the rest of the piece is being organized for a future release as we speak. The second encore is the Polonaise from Eugene Onegin and is played with the same flair and grace that is a constancy throughout this album.

The recording from Pentatone is quite fabulous as well. Having set the microphones back compared to the earlier operatic recital, the hall gains a sense of resonance that was utterly lacking in the earlier Bolshoi Opera excerpts album. The sound stage is also most convincing and a worthy addition to Pentatone’s growing catalog.

In summary, this is a gorgeous album of utterly beautiful music that cannot be played often enough. Highly recommended.

Rating: Performance 4.5 out of Stars, Multichannel Sonics: 4.5 out of 5 Stars.

Audiophile Audition

Recorded in Moscow, this fine performance in magnificent DSD 5.0 Surround Sound provides quite a contrast to the formerly decrepit sonics of Soviet era Russian recordings by the Bolshoi Orchestra. The Nutcracker became part of the standard repertory in Russia only eight years after its premiere, and presumably just as many local ballet companies stage the classic around the holidays every year there as do in North America.

Everything sparkles, and the tempos are fairly brisk – but then the Bolshoi dancers probably have no problems keeping up with them. The very familiar sections of the ballet included in the usual suites are played with a freshness that seldom lags.

But what hearing the complete score shows is that there is lots of equally great music here that didn’t make it to the suites. At least one of the standard CD versions squeezes the entire ballet score onto one disc, but at least PentaTone has included five tracks of Tchaikovsky fillers on this album. This set follows on the label’s recent release of two other fine Bolshoi albums – the 3-album Ruslan & Lyudmila opera and the Highlights from Russian Operas.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.

Pentatone 398 albums

More from this label

Pentatone Exclusive

The Fascinating George Gershwin

George Pieterson, Gregor Horsch, Henk Rubingh and 4 more

Pentatone Exclusive

Richard Strauss – Liszt – Korngold – Busoni – Schreker

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR)

Pentatone Exclusive

Shostakovich – Symphony No. 15 and Hamlet Op.32

Russian National Orchestra

Pentatone Exclusive

Keisuke Wakao Plays Bach, Mozart, Britten and Prokofiev

Keisuke Wakao

Currency
Cart