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“Some of the tunes are so famous that you even forget that someone had to write them: what could be more perfect than the pas de deux after the Waltz of the Flowers, which is just a G major scale? We fell in love with this music, rehearsing and performing it, and we think it is magic.” Simon Rattle
Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker have recorded the most performed ballet of all time, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. The release marks the conductor’s first Tchaikovsky recording and is one of several releases this season celebrating Rattle’s 30th anniversary on the EMI Classics label.
The Nutcracker, in which the boy band Libera makes a brief appearance in the wordless children’s chorus of The Waltz of the Snowflakes, appears in two editions: the 2-CD Standard and Experience editions containing the complete ballet score. The different versions contain varying amounts of background material and links to online content.
The Nutcracker story takes place around a Christmas Eve celebration in the Stahlbaums’ grand house with a beautiful tree surrounded by family and friends. Godfather Drosselmeyer, a clock and toy maker, arrives and presents dolls and gifts to all the children. He gives the Stahlbaums’ young daughter Clara a nutcracker that she adores. Her jealous brother, Fritz, grabs it and breaks it but Drosselmeyer deftly repairs it. The guests leave and the Stahlbaum family goes to bed but Clara, worried about her Nutcracker, steals downstairs to check up on him. At midnight, the tree seems to grow bigger. The toys come alive and the room is filled with an army of mice led by the Mouse King. The Nutcracker awakes and leads an army of toy soldiers in a fight with the mice. The mouse army is on the verge of winning when Clara hits the Mouse King on the head with her slipper, causing him to fall to the ground and his mouse army to scurry away. The Nutcracker turns into a prince and leads Clara to the Land of Snow where they are entertained by dancing snowflakes. In the Land of Sweets, the Sugar Plum Fairy treats them to a series of fantastic dances. Clara awakens to find herself by the Christmas tree in her own home. She is still hugging the Nutcracker.
Miniature Overture
Act. 1: #1 The Decoration of the Christmas Tree
Act. 1: #2 March
Act. 1: #3 Children's Galop and Entry of the Parents
Act. 1: #4 Arrival of Drosselmeyer
Act. 1: #5 Grandfather's Dance
Act. 1: #6 Clara and the Nutcracker
Act. 1: #7 The Battle
Act. 1: #8 In the Pine Forest
Act. 1: #9 Waltz of the Snowflakes
Nr. 10 - Szene: Im Zauberschloß Von Zuckerburg
Nr. 11 - Szene: Klärchen Und Der Prinz
(A) - Schokolade (Spanischer Tanz)
(B) - Kaffee (Arabischer Tanz)
(C) - Tee (Chinesischer Tanz)
(D) - Trepak (Russischer Tanz)
(E) - Tanz Der Rohrflöten
(F) - Mutter Gigogne
Nr. 13 - Blumenwalzer
Nr. 14 - Pas De Deux
(A) - Variation I: Tarantella
(B) - Variation II: Tanz Der Zuckerfee
The Nutcracker - Ballet Op. 71, ACT 2: Coda
Nr. 15 - Schluß-Walzer Und Apotheose
29th October 2010
*****
“The wealth of melodies contained in The Nutcracker, is all the more remarkable, as Simon Rattle suggests, for the depressive state of its composer...Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker enter fully into the spirit of things, infusing the classic "March" with a lovely toytown pomp. Delightful.”
4th November 2010
***
“the playing of the Berlin Philharmonic is superb, the precision and articulation of the woodwind and of the first oboe, in particular, a delight; every detail is there, perfectly realised and balanced.”
5th November 2010
***
“Rattle seems happiest conducting the darker, more fantastical scenes of Act One. He certainly relishes the Drosselmeyer character...characterised with grotesque, brusque chords. Elsewhere the Miniature Overture, defying the acoustic, keeps bright and perky; while the Snow King and Queen’s waltz almost reaches the succulent kiss of Richard Strauss.”
5th November 2010
*****
“The Berlin Philharmonic plays superbly, Rattle characterising the first act’s scenario and its emotional fluxes with a sure hand and finding a deft touch for the dances in the second. This is a performance that really makes The Nutcracker come alive as a dramatic and musical entity.”
The Independent on Sunday
15th November 2010
“This is a high-definition, low-camp midnight feast. The bravura sequence of dances in Confiturembourg has authentic fizz: the shrill Chinese Dance comes with a peppery underpinning of bassoons, while the celesta in Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy acquires an almost sinister glow”
December 2010
“There is a consistent sense here that Rattle has the consistent scenario and its detail firmly in view, so that the children's fluctuating emotions of wonderment, vexation and disappointment are clearly etched in...this magnificent recording underlines its magical and musical magnetism”
Charlotte Gardner
22nd November 2010
“It's so infectiously, festively fun that even the Berlin Philharmoniker, famed more for their rich, smooth perfection than for letting their hair down, has fallen into party mode, albeit of the cocktail rather than the student shin-dig variety.”
19th December 2010
****
“Those of us who have always loved it can breathe again. It’s good to welcome Rattle to the Nutcracker fold, especially as he, too, seems to have fallen in love with Tchaikovsky’s astonishingly original score...the Berlin strings are simply gorgeous. Rattle keeps a tight rein on the dramatic action of Act I and revels in the popular character dances of Act II”
January 2011
***
“There are certain things one can take for granted with a Berlin Phil recording. The silky sheen of the upper strings, the accuracy of the ensemble playing, the variety of tonal colours in the woodwind, the now-mellow-now-blazing brass playing - and they're all here on this highly enjoyable performance.”
Click here for alternative recordings of this work.
Miniature Overture
