Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (complete) / Symphony No. 4 (complete) [Original recording remastered]

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Composer), Artur Rodzinski (Conductor), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Artur Rodzinski
• Composer: Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
• Audio CD (September 18, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B00005OLDM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,446 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #40 in Music > Classical > Ballets & Dances > Ballets

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Performances!, March 26, 2002

By 

T. Beers (Arlington, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (complete) / Symphony No. 4 (complete) (Audio CD)

There aren't many Artur Rodzinski performances in the current catalog which is a great shame. Good as is the competition from Dorati, Mackerras, Tilson Thomas and others, I have to agree that this performance of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker is still the performance to own. And the Fourth Symphony is a delicious bonus. Both performances are marvels of orchestral clarity and superb phrasing. Yes, you will notice details in both scores that you've never noticed before. More important, Rodzinski had an uncanny talent for springing rhythms in ways that make many accompaniment parts and transitional sections seem as interesting (& meaningful) as the main lines of musical argument. Delightful! Although the recordings now are almost 50 years old, both are genuine stereo, resplendently re-mastered by Deutsche Grammophon from the Westminster originals. (Westminster was a high fidelity leader in the 1950s, so recording quality here is better than almost any other label could provide at the time.) Over the past year and a half, DG have released a number of Westminster recordings, by Rodzinski, Scherchen and others. I only hope this means that some of Westminster's vast catalog of chamber music and solo instrumental performances will also be released. Having acquired the rights to the Westminster catalog, DG is sitting on a true treasure trove; please release more!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Diamantine recordings!, January 11, 2007

By 

Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (complete) / Symphony No. 4 (complete) (Audio CD)

These performances are by themselves legendary treasures framed into we should name top-flight acoustic legends.

The Nutcracker is - with the only exception of Ormandy- Philadelphia- who never recorded entirely, the most extraordinary version ever recorded. Pristine elegence and sumptuous refinement and idomatic eloquence are some of the most exciting adjectives to qualify it.

The Fourth Symphony is another surprising finding; the fate's call and the kaleidoscopic approach and dramatic feature are expressed with absolute conviction, radiant lyricism and fervent passion.

It's time for the new generations of listeners to intend to return and realize about the special significance of this talented conductor.

Recommendation of first priority!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Addition to the enthusiasm, October 26, 2008

By 

Wayne A. (Belfast, Northern Ireland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (complete) / Symphony No. 4 (complete) (Audio CD)

Once in too great a while one stumbles across a recording of an old chestnut or warhorse that is unlike any previously encountered and yet is more "right" than the others. Gone here is the overweight grandeur that tends to bombast found in too many Nutcracker (and Tchaikovsky generally) recordings. This Nutcracker is all charm and bounce, with, as others have noted, chock full of important details that other conductors seem to have overlooked. It has the kind of texture and intimacy one finds more often in chamber music. With all the background tinsel and glitter made fully apparent it's actually genuinely magical.

The stereo sound is marginally dated by today's standards (my God, this was recorded in 1958!) but the absence of digital sheen and hyperbolic in-your-face presence actually works in the music's favor. Yet the sense of individual instruments miraculously seems better here than in any recent recordings I've encountered. This has to be one of the best engineered recordings in any catalogue.

I'm seldom one to say this or that recording is a top choice but in this instance the rule is broken. If you love the Nutcracker, or want to introduce it perhaps to a younger person this is the recording to get. The Fourth is surprisingly nice bonus. On first listen it seems excellent, with some qualities similar to its companion piece (amazing engineering again, and revealing attention to detail on the conductor's part). I won't bog this review down with a dissertation on Tchaikovsky symphony performances.

I've been deeply impressed by the Westminster recordings released and recently (and sadly) pulled from the catalogue. The Rodzinskis are all gems, and the often rough & scrappy & hell-for-leather Scherchens are almost always wildly enthusiastic or just plain fun, although some fastidious note-perfect reviewers hate them. Hopefully a reissue label like Brilliant or Regis will pick all these up and keep them in the catalogue.