There is great justification in the common view that Tchaikovsky was the finest 19th Century composer of ballet, as well as the pioneer of the modern form of the art. Prior to his three masterful ballets ‘Swan Lake’, Sleeping Beauty', and ‘The Nutcracker’, the banality of ballet was its most notable aspect (with perhaps an exception being Léo Delibes, who Tchaikovsky greatly admired). Somewhat insipid scores by the likes of Léon Minkus, Riccardo Drigo and Adolphe Adam were the normal fare of audiences in Tchaikovsky's time, resulting in his own richly melodic and carefully sculpted music being a badly-needed breath of fresh air in a rather stale environment.
Here we present a great recording of the Nutcracker conducted By Michael Tilson Thomas, recorded about thirty years ago.
Unfortunately it was long absent from the market, but we are proud to reissue it on Newton Classics.