BBC Concert Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker - Act 2

[Stanfordian]

I've recently been playing Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker in performances by the Berlin Philharmonic in recordings conducted by Simon Rattle on EMI and also by Semyon Bychkov on Philips. Now I hear playing on Radio 3 the BBC Concert Orchestra under Barry Wordsworth a performance of Act 2 of the Nutcracker and what difference. No real energy, lacking vivacity and no excitement. In the right hands The Nutcracker can be be a magical experience but not here with the BBC Concert Orchestra. I'm most underwhelmed.

[johnn10]

some allowances may be necessary

I agree that this was all a bit too laid back at times, but I guess we have to remember that this was recorded at an actual ballet performance and that from time to time it might have been necessary for the conductor to slow things down slightly to allow the dancers to get into position on stage. But overall not a performance I would want to listen to again.

[Mr Pee]

Were they playing on their scrap instruments again?

[gradus]

The speeds were chosen for dancers and may have given the impression of sluggishness after the high gloss of studio performances but i thought that the set pieces came off well. Having said that I don't think the BBC engineers can make a silk purse out of the sow's ear that is the ROH acoustic. To my ears it never flatters the orchestra, being on the dry side and can be positively awful if you're in the wrong seats.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The speeds were chosen for dancers and may have given the impression of sluggishness after the high gloss of studio performances

That does surprise me. When I played the piano for a ballet school many years ago, I was always told to play faster.
"They can't suspend themselves in mid-air you know."

[gradus]

Beecham apparently shared a similar view when conducting the Polovtsian Dances during a Diaghalev ballet season. Beecham to leader 'We made the b******s hop, what?'

[Stanfordian]

I agree that this was all a bit too laid back at times, but I guess we have to remember that this was recorded at an actual ballet performance and that from time to time it might have been necessary for the conductor to slow things down slightly to allow the dancers to get into position on stage. But overall not a performance I would want to listen to again.

Hello Johnn10, Of course that's the reason it was an actual ballet performance by the BBC Concert Orchestra wasn't it. No wonder he took it rather cautiously. I recall conductor Vasily Petrenko explaining before conducting a concert version of The Nutcracker with the RLPO:

"Like most of the ballets before the twentieth century it leads two lives. The first one pertains to the Rattle and Bychkov recordings which are more or less conducted in tempi which are similar to the tempi which Tchaikovsky had originally indicated. Secondly are recordings from conductors who performed it in ballet. I have also done the ballet as well in Russia. The ballet music is an entirely different tempi and has different scenarios. The music is the same but the pacing is different and the logic of the music is different. You see when I am on stage conducting Nutcracker in an orchestral concert then I am the owner of the music. But when I am conducting Nutcracker in an actual ballet you need to follow so many things that are different. Usually there are many things that are taken slower such as for a double pirouette with a triple jump or other technical complications."

When maestro Petrenko was asked if Tchaikovsky would have been given detailed timings to work to by the choreographer? He replied,

"Yes, it was Marius Petipa who Tchaikovsky collaborated with. Actually The Nutcracker is not that bad. There are certain differences between the concert version and the actual ballet but it is not extremely different. Now Swan Lake that’s very different, the original score is very different. There is even a swop over of the acts. If you get the original printed score of Swan Lake you cannot conduct the ballet from it. I’ve done the Swan Lake ballet about a hundred times now and the tempi of the original intentions are very different. There are even two tiny fragments which I believe were written by choreographer Petipa rather than Tchaikovsky. That is simply because of the rules of the game. So the composer wrote the material and then the ballet master looks through the music and he has been thinking what he needs to do. Then according to the ballet master’s plan the composer usually has been given an indication of certain things he needs to do. The ballet master may have said, ‘I need a little extension on this number, can you write it?’ Or, ‘on this number we need to play it quicker, shorter, so can you cut it down?’ And they would swop over the music some time; just change the order."

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The Swan Lake version mentioned sounds as though it might be that travesty we heard at the Proms this year, with its non-Tchaikovsky additions. It is true to say that the original version has a few bits that are not ideal for the dancers, but a little discrete adjustment is all that is required.