Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Complete), Suites for Orchestra 3 & 4

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

 

 

Delightful as the 1998 "Nutcracker" recording by Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra is, I still believe Dorati's is the standard by which all should be judged. The tempi here are a little slower and more dancerly and the strings seem a bit less harsh. The sound quality, particularly on this new remastering, is phenomenal for a quarter-century-old recording.

If you want to hear this ballet as the masterpiece it is and not simply as holiday background Muzak, you can't go wrong with this CD.

There isn't much I can say about the reputation of Dorati as a Tchaikovsky ballets conductor. And, on this occasion, he does it as well as usual. He deals perfectly with the more menacing as well as with the more smooth passages on this ballet. And the Concertgebouw sounds splendid. I don't know any other versions of the suites but these are regarded as the best ones available. Unfortunately the 1st and 2nd are not published any longer and you can get only number 3 and 4 on this CD. (Naturally I mean Dorati's versions). If only Philips had them re-edited again...

Finally I must tell that the sound quality is also great, as well as the muscial quality. So, if you're looking for the suites buy these ones. And if you're looking for the ballet ypu won't be dissapointed with this one and it won't be easy for you to find a better one (there are, anyway, another good ones such as Ansetmet or Previn).

If you're considering purchasing this for the Nutcracker, don't. Performance-wise, this is still the best of the best, but for this particular edition, Philips apparently re-mastered the recording, taking one of their most brilliant and lucid productions, and muffling it. I did an A-B comparison with the earlier CD immediately upon receiving this one, and it was immediately obvious that the earlier mastering reveals far more instrumental detail and projects a much more realistic soundstage with more air around the instruments.

So if you're after a complete Nutcracker, by all means get the Dorati/Concertgebouw original transfer, the one with the Sleeping Beauty excerpts included. You'll be thrilled. This 50th Anniversary edition is an inexcusable sonic disappointment.

This set, formerly available only at mid-price, has been reissued at duo price: a plus right off the bat.

The Nutcracker is a work that always gives pleasure. When it is conducted as Antal Dorati conducts it, it becomes sublime. Dorati captures the more ethereal moments of Tchaikovsky's score without fault on this recording. It beats, in my estimation, the later Valerie Gergiev recording (also on Philips). Dorati's tempi always seem "right" for some inexplicable reason.

Only once, in the Waltz of the Flowers, do things become a bit controversial. His phrasing is not the smooth (dare I say sentimental?) approach we are used to. He lets the music lilt uniquely, so that the sound delivered is more pointed. Enjoyment of this will simply be a matter of taste.

Dorati's balletic approach to the suites generally works very well. Only in the finale of the Suite No. 3 does the music sound a bit *too* dancy. His suites are otherwise faultless, recorded 1966 in excellent analogue sound.

Overall, this is an excellent issue of Dorati's 1975 Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam recording of the Nutcracker, with a far more desirable issue than in its Philips Duo incarnation. The latter issue contains highlights of The Sleeping Beauty, a work much better heard in full. The Suites are worthy works of that great composer, Tchaikovsky.

Yes, Dorati's Suites are the most satisfying recorded versions and have been for nearly 40 years.

I'm less enthusiastic about this Nutcraker--Dorati bottles up some tempi and the playing is noticeably not up to the Concertgebuow's standard of the period.

Both Dorati's other recordings are preferable--the extraordinary London SO on Mercury is full of frisson and more complete, the standard masterly, the conductor at his highest form. You'll have to go to old vinyl for his Minneapolis SO version, historic, still good-sounding, played with involvement and delight.

If you still have your vinyl of the London Nutcracker and the Philharmonia Suites, keep it there. Save your dollars for some other great Dorati jewel you don't have yet.