# Tchaikovsky Ballet music



## FrankinUsa (Aug 3, 2021)

I like the Tchaikovsky ballet music. To me it’s coming symphonic. A beginning and and an end. What day all of you.


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## FrankinUsa (Aug 3, 2021)

I hope no one will start to talk about that this should go in this or that category. It’s music.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

FrankinUsa said:


> I hope no one will start to talk about that this should go in this or that category...


...or discuss its political elements


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

To me, Tchaikovsky is at his best in the ballet music...


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Haven't spent much time in ballet music but do enjoy the bits of ballet that is sprinkled among some operas (particularly Russian). I did get a set of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet and recall enjoying it quite a bit. I ought to give it another listen.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

To me, Tchaikovsky's most perfect work is the string serenade, but Swan Lake is up there.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

The Sleeping Beauty was my entry into classical music. Almost 60 years ago a neighbor gave me some records - and a wonderful record of selections from the ballet was among them. I still have that old mono record. I played it all the time and it sure put the Tchaikovsky bug into me. As I got older I sought out the other ballets and Swan Lake became a favorite, then Nutcracker.

I have way too many recordings of all three, but my top choices:

Swan Lake (Michael Tilson Thomas on Sony)
Sleeping Beauty (Richard Bonynge on Decca)
Nutcracker (Antal Dorati on Mercury)

Very pleasant music to keep in the playlist as I drive around town or do housework.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

*Tchaikovsky Ballet music*
____________________________________

Good stuff.
Puts me in the mood for dancing, and I'm not much for dancing.
But usually I just sit and listen.
And enjoy.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Tchaikovsky's ballets, in particular Swan Lake, Nutcrakcer and Sleeping Beauty, are to ballet what Beethoven's Eroica, 5th and 9th symphonies are to that genre.

I most like Stokowski's 1953 RCA recording of Sleeping Beauty. I had a guy in Kansas City take my LP and make me a high quality CD of it.

Swan Lake is more difficult to listen to in recordings though wonderful in live performance with dancers. Most recordings treat is as concert music and not dance, a common problem with ballet recordings.


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## Eriks (Oct 10, 2021)

Maybe Tchaikovsky-ballet-fans will enjoy listening to Sviridov? Isn't it like a kind of mix between Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich ( with more Tchaikovsky)?

Sviridov's snowstorm:


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

larold said:


> Most recordings treat is as concert music and not dance, a common problem with ballet recordings.


That is a conundrum, isn't it? Sometimes what works in the concert hall will absolutely not work on the dance stage. I think that's why conductors like Dorati, Monteux, Ansermet and very few others are so wonderful: they spent a lot of time in the pit conducting ballet and know how it should go. Sadly, many people can name conductors of the concert stage, fewer people can name opera conductors but hardly anyone can name any ballet conductor. Of all the conducting jobs out there, ballet has got to be the most difficult of all. Both Slatkin and Leinsdorf in their books talked about the extreme difficulty of conducting ballet. I was luck in that the one conducting teacher I took some lessons from was the conductor of the San Francisco Ballet. I learned so much from him, and when I was thrust into conducting the Nutcracker at the last moment his teachings got me through it easily.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Tchaikovsky's ballets are some of my least favorite works in his oeuvre to be honest. The symphonies, concerti, symphonic poems, chamber and solo piano works are why I love his music.


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## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

They are at their best , live while watching the ballet! I have seen them all with dancers on stage and each time they moved me more when I was watching the dancers than while I was just listening to a recording.

Serenade for strings and violin concerte are my favourite tchaikovsky works , but the ballets are up there...as ballets!


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