Release Date: 12 January 2000
Label: Naxos - Ex Select Products / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313534227
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: TCHAIKOVSKY
Description
Pyotr Ily'ich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): Nutcracker SuiteNikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908): Christmas Eve SuiteThere must be something very special about Christmas in Russia. Easter may be the major festival of the Russian church year, but Christmas and, in particular, New Year are a time for seasonal celebration in the snow-bound countryside.For many Pyotr Ily'ich Tchaikovsky seems to epitomize the spirit of Russia. While Vienna might look askance at elements in his music that critics found barbaric, nationalist Russian composers might find him tainted with something cosmopolitan. The nineteenth century had brought a surge of interest in the true Russia, both in language and in music. Tchaikovsky, however, was never a member of the group known as the Mighty Handful or The Five, nationalist composers led by Balakirev and including the chemistry professor Borodin, the alcoholic civil servant and ex-army officer Mussorgsky, the professor of military fortification Cui and the former naval officer Rimsky-Korsakov. He himself was trained in music at the new Conservatory in St Petersburg and subsequently taught at the parallel institution in Moscow. From what had become drudgery he was saved by the generous help of a benefactress, whom he never met face to face but with whom he corresponded over a long period. From 1877 he was able to concentrate entirely on his work as a composer.The third and last of Tchaikovsky's great ballets was Nutcracker, first staged in St Petersburg on 18th December 1892. At first he found no particular attraction in the subject of The Nutcracker and the Mouse-king, based on a story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, and the first performance was, in any case, coolly received. It has since become one of the most popular of all ballets, a particular favourite at Christmas. The story opens with a Christmas party, where, as sometimes happens at parties, Clara and her brother Franz become quarrelsome and refractory when they are not allowed to take their presents, a doll and a toy solider respectively, from the room. To pacify them the mysterious Drosselmeyer, who had brought them these presents, gives the children a nutcracker, which Franz breaks, when he tries to open a nut that is too big. Clara sadly takes the nutcracker and puts it to bed with her new doll. What follows is Clara's dream. She seems to see, in the night, a battle between toy soldiers, led by the Nutcracker, and the mice under their king, the latter eventually routed. The Nutcracker, transformed into a handsome prince, takes Clara away with him to the land of the Snow-King and Snow-Queen and then, led by the Sugar Plum Fairy, to the Kingdom of Sweets. [1] The ballet starts with a miniature Overture, scored without cellos and double bass, setting the opening party scene. [2] The boys march into the drawing-room, with its Christmas-tree, as the party begins. [3] Probably the best known of the dances in the Kingdom of Sweets is the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, for
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Various
Various
Lully
