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Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker

Label: Pentatone

Cat No: PTC5186761

Barcode: 0827949076169

Format: Hybrid SACD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Ballet

Release Date: 15th November 2019

This product has now been deleted. Information is for reference only.

Works

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich

The Nutcracker, op.71

Artists

State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia ‘Evgeny Svetlanov’

Conductor

Vladimir Jurowski

Works

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich

The Nutcracker, op.71

Artists

State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia ‘Evgeny Svetlanov’

Conductor

Vladimir Jurowski

About

After the tremendous success of Swan Lake, Vladimir Jurowski and the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov” continue their Tchaikovksy ballet series on PENTATONE with this recording of The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky’s enchanting masterpiece is an absolute audience favourite, thanks to hits such as the Waltz of the Flowers, Trepak and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, but also due to the composer’s ability to evoke a sense of wonder in listeners both young and old. Vladimir Jurowski and his players tell this story about the power of fantasy with unprecedented zeal, demonstrating the symphonic refinement and orchestral brilliance of Tchaikovsky’s score.

The Nutcracker offers the third PENTATONE release of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov” together with its Artistic Director Vladimir Jurowski, after Prokofiev Symphonies 2 & 3 (2017) and Swan Lake (2018). Jurowski has recorded extensively for PENTATONE and is generally seen as one of the most prominent conductors of his generation.

Sound/Video

Paused

1

Overture
2

Act 1: The Christmas Tree
3

Act 1: March of the Toy Soldiers
4

Act 1: Children's Gallop and Dance of the Parents
5

Act 1: Arrival of Drosselmeyer
6

Act 1: Scene and Grandfather Waltz
7

Act 1: Clara and the Nutcracker
8

Act 1: The Battle
9

Act 1: A Pine Forest in Winter
10

Act 1: Waltz of the Snowflakes
11

Act 2: The Magic Castle in the Land of Sweets
12

Act 2: Clara and the Nutcracker Prince
13

Act 2: Divertissement. Chocolate (Spanish Dance)
14

Act 2: Divertissement. Coffee (Arabian Dance)
15

Act 2: Divertissement. Tea (Chinese Dance)
16

Act 2: Divertissement. Trepak (Russian Dance)
17

Act 2: Divertissement. Dance of the Reed Flutes
18

Act 2: Divertissement. Mother Ginger and the Polichinelles
19

Act 2: Waltz of the Flowers
20

Act 2: Pas de deux. Sugar Plum Fairy and Her Cavalier
21

Act 2: Pas de deux. Tarantella
22

Act 2: Pas de deux. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
23

Act 2: Pas de deux. Coda, Final Waltz

Europadisc Review

Having already given us critically-acclaimed modern accounts of The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, Vladimir Jurowski and his Russian State Symphony Orchestra ‘Evgeny Svetlanov’ at last reach that perennial ballet favourite The Nutcracker. It’s difficult to remember a time when this work wasn’t a sure sign of the approach of Christmas. Yet it is only since the 1940s that the complete ballet rather than the celebrated Suite won its way into audiences’ hearts, having been less than a resounding success on its St Petersburg premiere in December 1892. It may lack the epic sweep of The Sleeping Beauty or the intense beauty of Swan Lake, yet The Nutcracker, for all its narrative lopsidedness, has an abundance of charm all its own, and when given complete by sympathetic performers it can be uniquely winning.

Vladimir Jurowski has fast developed into one of the greatest of present-day Tchaikovsky conductors (his recording of the Fourth Symphony with the LPO was recently picked by Gramophone magazine as the top recording), and this latest disc certainly secures his position. His orchestra (the former USSR Symphony Orchestra of which Svetlanov was chief conductor for many decades) still has a discernibly Russian flavour to it, even if the formerly wayward brass and woodwind are now more disciplined and blended. The rawness they still bring to this music often reminds one of the most successful theatre orchestras of the past, and Jurowski’s reading of The Nutcracker successfully combines a symphonic sweep with a palpable theatrical atmosphere, aided by a well-focused recording.

The performance opens with a delightfully poised account of the Overture, woodwind and strings delicate but nimble, and the antiphonally divided violins bring real benefits, opening up Tchaikovsky’s masterly scoring and revealing the many passages where phrases are tossed to and fro from section to section. ‘The Decoration of the Christmas Tree’ has a very homely feel to it, and the March is brisk and alert but without exaggeration, the woodwind once again fabulously deft, the exchanged phrases in the upper strings excellently done. As Act 1 progresses, the manifest strengths of the performance become ever more apparent: there is a sense of steadily growing excitement from the arrival of the mysterious guest Herr Drosselmeyer onwards, while the ‘Grandfather Waltz’ has a delightful old-school swagger to it. Once the party guests have disappeared, the real enchantment begins, yet all the while Jurowski retains sight of the larger formal arc, so that the grand climaxes are superbly integrated into the whole. The toy sound effects (such as the pop of the gun that sets off the bedroom ‘Battle’ between the mice and the gingerbread soldiers) are tastefully done, while the cascading string chords have real bite to them. After Clara and the Nutcracker manage to rout the forces of the Mouse King, magic again descends with a superbly atmospheric picture of the Pine Forest and an utterly winning account of the ‘Waltz of the Snowflakes’, enhanced by the Sveshnikov Boys’ Choir of the Moscow Choral School.

Jurowski carries forward the sense of narrative arc into Act 2, and here the fun really begins, with superbly characterised dances in the Divertimento. The Spanish, Arabian and Chinese dances have plenty of flavour, while the much-loved Trepak has a uniquely Russian authenticity to it, bracing yet expertly controlled. The flutes and cor anglais in the ‘Dance of the Reed Pipes’ outclass just about all their rivals on disc for musicality and grace as well as magic, and the dance of Mother Ginger and her Polichinelles is toe-tappingly infectious. It is in the ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ and the following pas de deux for the Prince and the Sugar-Plum Fairy that Jurowski’s symphonic sense of pacing really pay dividends, for they feel like a wholly natural outcome of the way he has shaped the ballet up to this point, yet they retain that very theatrical feel established at the outset. For a last dose of chocolate-box magic, the Tarantella and the ‘Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy’ (the latter with excellently balanced celesta) work their unerring charm, before the ‘Final Waltz’ and Apotheosis combine imperial grandeur and childlike rapture in ideal measure.

At a generous 86 minutes, this marvellously played and thrillingly captured performance provides strong competition for other single-disc Nutcrackers from Gergiev and Järvi. For its combination of an authentically Russian soundworld, real theatrical flair, fabulous engineering, superb formal control and a real sense of delight in the music as well as the story, it now surely clinches the top spot, alongside Jurowski’s marvellous accounts of the other two ballets. For a 2019 stocking-filler, look no further!

Reviews

Very neat, very precise, very Russian – everything you’d want from this festive classic. The orchestra bring out rhythmic passages with clarity and revel in the glorious moments. Freya Parr

BBC Music Magazine Christmas 2019

Pentatone follows up its excellent Swan Lake with another enjoyable complete Tchaikovsky ballet score. Again we hear a full and naturally rich string sound...Taken as a whole, the disc makes a splendid impression.

HiFi Choice