Tuesday, July 07, 2020

Nutcracker In July 07

Good afternoon!  Are you ready for some more nutcracker? Well, today's version is by Stanley Black Conducting The London Festival Orchestra from the LP Tchaikovsky-Nutcracker Suite/Serenade For Strings (London Phase 4 SPC 21022, Stereo, 1967).  It's the fully-tracked 8-song version, and there are some good arrangements in here. And at least we know that Stanley Black was a real person. Hope you're enjoying all the different versions this month. Plenty more still to come.

9 comments:

  1. Great thing to see today, Ernie. This should be nice on such a blazing hot day up here in Michigan...

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  2. Yeah, pretty hot here today, too. Hopefully it will rain (again) soon and drop us back into the low 90s. :)

    Thanks for the comment!

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  3. Another new one for me! Thanks!

    I listened to the Karajan version and it was overblown, as his recordings tend to be.

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  4. I know I shouldn't be, but I'm still shocked that you know who all these people are. And the people you don't know, those are pseudonyms. :)

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  5. Heck, I have some of the recordings, including the Karajan.

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  6. This one is let down by the recording. Phase 4 used a lot of microphones, which made everything sound up close and personal. It isn't well suited to such music as the Miniature Overture, which relies on a developing a sense of fantasy to set the stage for the ballet.

    Still, Black conducts well. As you know, he was mostly known for pop instrumental discs.

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  7. I'm trying to think if I've ever actually seen the ballet, and I don't think I have. Just little bits and pieces here and there where they want to establish a ballet character in a movie or TV show. Red Sparrow (with Katniss Everdeen) comes to mind, but I think they used Swan lake in that one. I don't want to ruin it for you if you haven't seen it, but OUCH!

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  8. I've seen the Nutcracker many times. You should see it!

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  9. I saw Red Sparrow. OUCH is right!

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