Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky -- The Nutcracker (Full Ballet) -- Score

There’s a certain irony in how the two pieces by Tchaikovsky that are the most popular nowadays are pieces that he wrote strictly on commission, and didn’t think too highly of himself. The first, the 1812 Overture, was featured earlier on this channel, in a recording complete with genuine muzzle-loading cannons. The second is his score for the ballet The Nutcracker. Commissioned by Ivan Vsevolozhsky, director of the Imperial Theatres, as a follow-up to The Sleeping Beauty, Tchaikovsky again collaborated with Marius Petipa, who adapted “The Story of a Nutcracker“ by Alexandre Dumas, itself an adaptation of “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King“ by . Hoffmann. Tchaikovsky essentially wrote music to a framework supplied by Petipa. The original production was not a success, mostly due to issues with the dance performance and story, rather than Tchaikovsky’s music. Although constrained by the demands that his music follow the form of the dancing, Tchaikovsky neverthe