Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Tchaikovsky Available Now
UPDATE 2024
Rereading this review, we felt it wise to add the following:
This review is from many years ago. I cannot say we would still feel the same way about the reissue reviewed here.
Turns out that in 2024 we still feel the same way about the reissues of this album. They’re the ones that win shootouts, and they have been winning them for more than ten years. Here is a recent listing.
Our Old Commentary
This RCA reissue pressing of LSC 2328 has some of the BEST SOUND we have ever heard for The Nutcracker, and we’ve played them by the dozens, on the greatest Golden Age labels of all time, including, but not limited to, the likes of Mercury, RCA and London.
In a somewhat (but not too) surprising turn of events, the reissue pressing we are offering here beat all the originals and early reissues we could throw at it.
Finally, this legendary Mohr/Layton production can be heard in its full glory!
If you like your Nutcracker exciting and dynamic, this is the copy for you.
Don’t buy into that record collecting / audiophile canard that the originals are better.
We like our recordings to have as many Live Music qualities as possible, and those qualities really come through on a record such as this when reproduced on the full-range speaker system we use.
For our shootout we played Ansermet’s performance of the Suites on London, as well as pressings by Reiner and Fiedler, both of whom opted against using the Suites as Tchaikovsky wrote them, preferring instead to create a shorter version of the complete ballet with excerpts of their own choosing (shown below).
The CSO, as one might expect, plays this work with more precision and control than any other. They also bring more excitement and dynamic contrasts to their performance, adding greatly to our enjoyment of the music.