Sunday Classics Preview: Can this really be our 3rd Annual "Very Tchaikovsky Christmas"?

The brilliant little Russian Dance (Trepak) from The Nutcracker is performed by the Cologne New Philharmonic Orchestra under Volker Hartung in Hamburg, Feb. 1, 2009.

by Ken

It all started when I thought that with the holidays upon us, I should say something about the fact that you could buy all three of Tchaikovksy's indispensable ballets in marvelous performances by the distinguished composer-arranger-conductor John Lanchbery, squeezed by EMI onto five CDs, for under $20.

(Now, alas, the lowest price I see for it is $31.95, used. A better deal is the six-CD Previn-EMI set, which can be had new for less, and used from a number of sources in the $17-22 range. I've just never been wild about the sound on these CDs, which doesn't measure up to what I've heard for these performances on British EMI LPs.)

Last year we broke out of the confines of Tchaikovsky's ballets, but this year we're back to those three amazing creations. We actually don't have a lot of Nutcracker on this year's program, but we do have a performance and recording that I consider pretty special -- and three samples in tonight's preview.

We start, logically enough, with the Overture.




TO HEAR MORE NUTCRACKER EXCERPTS, AND
LEARN WHO OUR PERFORMERS ARE, CLICK HERE

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