Antal Dorati - Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker and 50 similar items

Catalog Number: 9500-697 Condition Details: Promo/sample sticker on back. HYPE-STICKER on front. Unopened/new vinyl, factory sealed, and in excellent condition. Label design can't be confirmed because it's sealed. (Not a cut-out.) Tracks: "Nutcracker" Suite, Op. 71a Miniature Overture Characteristic Dances Waltz Of The Flowers "Nutcracker" Suite No. 2 Scene And Waltz Of The Snowflakes Spanish Dance Pas De Deux Coda Waltz Finale And Apotheosis About The Record: Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Ballet, by Antal Dorati, is an 1892 two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Op. 71). The libretto is adapted from E. T. A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". Although the original production was not a success, the 20-minute suite that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was. However, the complete Nutcracker has enjoyed enormous popularity since the late 1960s and is now performed by countless ballet companies, primarily during the Christmas season, especially in North America. Major American ballet companies generate around 40% of their annual ticket revenues from performances of The Nutcracker. The ballet's score has been used in several film adaptations of Hoffmann's story. Tchaikovsky's score has become one of his most famous compositions. Among other things, the score is noted for its use of the celesta, an instrument that the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda. 1954, the year in which George Balanchine first staged his production of it, was also the year that the first complete recording of the ballet appeared ? a 2-LP album set in mono sound released by Mercury Records. The cover design was by George Maas and featured illustrations by Dorothy Maas. The music was performed by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Antal Dorati. Dorati later re-recorded the complete ballet in stereo, with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1962 for Mercury and with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1975 for Philips Classics. According to Mercury Records, the 1962 recording was made on 35mm magnetic film rather than audio tape, and used album cover art identical to that of the 1954 recording. Dorati is the only conductor so far to have made three different recordings of the complete ballet. Some have hailed the 1975 recording as the finest ever made of the complete ballet. It is also faithful to the score in employing a boys' choir in the Waltz of the Snowflakes. Many other recordings use an adult or mixed choir.