Nutcracker Suite (entire) - Stock/Chicago

This ties Stokowski's (arguably) as the best version of the suite.

I. Miniature Overture
II. Danses caractéristiques
a. Marche
b. Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy [ending altered from ballet-version]
c. Russian Dance (Trepak)
d. Arabian Dance
e. Chinese Dance
f. Reed-Flutes (Mirlitons)
III. Waltz of the Flowers


Frederick Stock (Friedrich August Stock) (November 11, 1872 October 20, 1942) was a German conductor and composer. Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1905 to 1942. My favorite conductor after Mengelberg and Stokowski.

For the Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky joined forces with Marius Petipa, with whom he had collaborated on The Sleeping Beauty. The material Petipa chose was an adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffmann's story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by Alexandre Dumas père called The Tale of the Nutcracker. The plot of Hoffmann's story (and Dumas' adaptation) was greatly simplified for the two-act ballet. Hoffmann's tale contains a long flashback story within its main plot entitled The Tale of the Hard Nut, which explains how the Prince was turned into the Nutcracker. This had to be excised for the ballet.

Petipa gave Tchaikovsky extremely detailed instructions for the composition of each number, down to the tempo and number of bars. The composer did not appreciate having to work under such constraints and found himself reluctant to work on the ballet. The completion of the work was interrupted for a short time when Tchaikovsky visited the United States for twenty five days to conduct concerts for the opening of Carnegie Hall[7] and composed part of it in France.

The first performance of The Nutcracker was not deemed a success. The reaction to the dancers themselves was ambivalent. While some critics praised Dell-Era her pointe work as the Sugar Plum Fairy (she allegedly received five curtain-calls), one critic called her "corpulent" and "podgy." Olga Preobajenskaya as the Columbine doll was panned by one critic as "completely insipid" and praised as "charming" by another. One audience member described the choreography of the battle scene as confusing: "One cannot understand anything. Disorderly pushing about from corner to corner and running backwards and forwards -- quite amateurish."

The libretto was criticized for being "lopsided" and for not being faithful to the Hoffmann tale. Much of the criticism focused on the featuring of children so prominently in the ballet, and many bemoaned the fact that the ballerina did not dance until the Grand Pas de Deux near the end of the second act (which did not occur until nearly midnight during the program). Some found the transition between the mundane world of the first scene and the fantasy world of the second act too abrupt. Reception was better for Tchaikovsky's score. Critics called it "astonishingly rich in inspiration" and "from beginning to end, beautiful, melodious, original, and characteristic." But even this was not unanimous as some critics found the party scene "ponderous" and the Grand Pas de Deux "insipid."

Obviously, later productions did better.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Tchaikovsky
• Nutcracker
• Suite
• (entire)
• Frederick
• Stock
• Chicago
• Miniature
• Overture
• Danses
• caractéristiques
• Marche
• Dance
• of
• the
• Sugar-Plum
• Fairy
• Russian
• (Trepak)
• Arabian
• Chinese
• Reed-Flutes
• (Mirlitons)
• Waltz
• Flowers

[bolunzhao1016]

this is awsome, where did you find such complete piece?

[2ndviolinist]

@bolunzhao1016 For a while a 6 CD set of Stock/CSO was available for a very reasonable price. I also found 2 other individual CDs. I think many such re-releases have come and gone. It's a limited market.

[2ndviolinist]

You are very welcome.

[atreideshawk]

It was also released in 1943, the year after Stock passed away.

[atreideshawk]

I have an old set of 78rpm records that I inherited from my Grandfather. I was wondering if this might be the same recording. The recording I have is by Frederick Stock and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The cover is yellow. (I can send a .jpg). There is no date, but the record label is mm-395 Columbia Masterworks. The records also say 70068-D (WXCO 26306). Any help would be much appreciated!!! - Jack

[otterhouse]

Nice! Thanks... a great aquisition on the youtube archive.

Greetings,

Rolf, Netherlands