# Dueling Nutcrackers



## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

It’s that time of year. Yesterday I played Abravanel/Utah in Multichannel from a DVD-Audio-truly magnificent sounding—then after work Dorati/LSO in two channel, way to fast and I much prefer his later Amsterdam recording. The good news was that in both recordings, Clara and the Nutcracker defeat the Mouse King. What is your favorite?


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## Kiki (Aug 15, 2018)

Previn/LSO/1972 and Previn/RPO/1986. Both are great performances. Both were recorded in the Abbey Road No. 1 Studio, so great acoustics also. Perfect for this time of the year.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Dorati/LSO. It's not too fast - if you take Tchaikovsky's metronome marks as written. Dorati had tremendous experience in the ballet pit and the tempos are on the mark for dancing. And, the playing is terrific, the decades-old sound still holds up well. 

Not far behind: Ansermet/OSR. He was another experienced ballet conductor. Despite the questionable tuning and some scruffy playing, there's something about that old-world reading that I love.

Another oldie: Rodzinski with LPO. Very exciting, well played, mostly well recorded. But why oh why did he make that one stupid cut in the Apotheosis? For a long time this recording was considered the one to beat. Still great.

One I loathe: Gergiev on Philips. In their desire to cram it all on one disk he takes it way too fast, omits repeats. Some people love it, I do not.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Bonynge on Decca- Previn LSO on Emi and , Neeme Järvi on Chandos , in that order


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## SONDEK (Sep 29, 2017)

I own a dozen or more versions. This is the best I've heard...


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

This year for me it will be the Royal Ballet on Blu-Ray.


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