The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on 18 December 1892, on a double-bill with Tchaikovsky's opera, Iolanta. Although the original production was not a success, the twenty-minute suite that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was. However, the complete Nutcracker has enjoyed enormous popularity since the mid-20th century and is now performed by countless ballet companies, primarily during the Christmas season, especially in the U.S. Tchaikovsky's score has become one of his most famous compositions, in particular the pieces featured in the suite. Among other things, the score is noted for its use of the celesta, an instrument that the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda. Although known primarily as the featured solo instrument in the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from Act II of The Nutcracker, it is also employed elsewhere in the same act.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a I. Miniature Overture
II. Danses caractéristiques
a. Marche
b. Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy
c. Russian Dance (Trepak)
d. Arabian Dance
e. Chinese Dance
f. Reed-Flutes
III. Waltz of the Flowers *****
Berlin State Opera Orchestra Oscar Fried 1927 *****
Dresden Philharmonic Paul van Kempen 1940 *****
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Hans Knappertsbusch 02.1960 *****
Monte Carlo National Opera Orchestra Igor Markevitch 1968 *****
New York Philharmonic Orchestra Artur Rodzinski 20.02.1946 *****
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Frederick Stock 11.1939 *****
Philadelphia Orchestra Leopold Stokowski 1934 *****
Nutcracker (excerpts) Winter scenes - Waltz of the Snowflakes - Pas de Deux - Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy - Final Waltz and Apotheosis *****
Boston Pops Arthur Fiedler 1940's | 
