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Nutcracker & the Mouse King on CD

Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker, which has it's origins in a novella by E. T. A. Hoffmann, contains some of the best-loved music ever written. But it's composer wasn't very happy with it, perhaps because the plot he was given to work with allowed him to present only a series of dances, losing the moral basis of Hoffman's surprisingly modern tale, with it's messages of inclusivity and what is now called 'women's agency' - here it is the little girl who saves the prince. Hoffmann's aspirational story continues well after the ballet ends, with the little girl, now grown up, marrying the prince, who is now king. John Mauceri has brought the ballet back to it's inspiration, calling on music from elsewhere in Tchaikovsky's orchestral output to fashion this 're-telling', marrying Hoffmann's text and Tchaikovsky's music for the first time.