Customer Reviews

The Harlem Nutcracker

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My family saw this performed live at The Brooklyn Academy of Music last year. My five year old daughter enjoyed it more than the classic version we had seen on stage just a few weeks earlier. We were very disappointed to find there wasn't a soundtrack CD out, but now there is. This is an excellent recording, by the same band that was performing at BAM. Outstanding.

As I understand it, Billy Berger was commissioned by the choreographer Donald Byrd, who wanted to create an evening-length ballet called Harlem Nutcracker. (As you may know, Tchaikovsky composed two scores -- a full-length Nutcracker, which is used in the evening-length ballet, and a shorter Nutcracker Suite. Ellington's jazz arrangement is of the shorter "Suite.") Donald Byrd used all of the original Ellington music, and commissioned Berger to fill in around it to create an evening-length work. (For the record, I have never met Billy Berger, though I do know Donald Byrd.) Thank you.

david berger's entire career is almost completely based on transcribing other musician's genuis - most notably Duke Ellington. to any of those who think that these are new "jazzy" arrangements of the nutcracker you should be interested in picking up the original, scored and arranged by Ellington and Strayhorn on a CD entitled "Three Suites". dont get me wrong - his band is good and he has some very accomplished musicians - but c'mon now - you really need to go with the Duke on this one.

I am afan of the play and i have the cd playing all the time. Than during the christmas holiday i saw the metro...perform the harlem nutcracker and let me tell you my entire family enjoyed it....it swings but it still has the enchantment of the play....this is a must have...

This is based on Duke Ellington's confusingly-named album, "Three Suites," which is a brilliant interpretation of the Nutcracker Suite.

Only here David Berger has re-arranged a portion of the material from "Three Suites" and added his own material to the composition. Problem is, the material written by Berger just isn't as interesting as those originally composed by Ellington, and the inclusion of a chorus on one of Berger's songs seems to create a distraction from the rest of the album.

While the performances delivered by Berger's Sultans of Swing are solid, they somehow lack the full power heard on Duke Ellington's "Three Suites" album. Instead of buying this album, I would buy "Three Suites." Although recorded in the mid 1950s, the quality of that recording is in amazingly good condition.

Still, if you're a big fan of the Ellington, of the Nutcracker, or of Holiday music, you can't go wrong by purchasing both cds.

An excellent variation of Ellington's arrangement of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. Sound quality was excellent also.

The arrangements and performances are outstanding!
I'll put this up against any swing music, now or from the 40's, it really swings, and it's excellently written and the musicianship is great.

Oh, and it includes some jazz-arranged Nutcracker Suite tunes.

If you like good swing jazz, you'll like this!