Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker I
In this hour, you will listen to music that suits this time of the year. No Weihnachtsoratorium or Messiah, but the complete The Nutcracker ballet of Pjotr Iljitsj Tchaikovsky. Because the whole ballet lasts 80 minutes, you will hear the first act in this episode and the second act next week. Tchaikovsky based his ballet on the Christmas fairytale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King of E. T. A. Hoffmann in the transcription of Alexandre Dumas senior. The first performance took place in December 1892 in the Mariinski Theatre, St. Petersburg.
Playlist:
- Pjotr Iljitsj Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, Op. 71 – First act. The Kirov Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev
- Pjotr Iljitsj Tchaikovsky: Three miniatures for string quartet (Allegretto in E-flat minor; Andante molto in G major; Allegro vivace in B-flat major). Moskow String quartet
- Pjotr Iljitsj Tchaikovsky: Etude of Twelve Pieces for Piano, Op. 40. Mikhail Pletnev, piano
- Pjotr Iljitsj Tchaikovsky; Capriccio in G-flat major, Op. 8. Mikhail Pletnev, piano
- Pjotr Iljitsj Tchaikovsky: ‘December, Christmas’ from The Seasons, Op. 37b: Mikhail Pletnev, piano
