Kristjan Järvi and Baltic Sea Philharmonic recording Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker (Photo: Siiri Kumari / Sunbeam Productions) |
Having released his own symphonic versions of Tchaikovsky's other two ballets, Kristjan Järvi and the young players of his Baltic Sea Philharmonic Orchestra have just released a disc devoted to The Nutcracker. Järvi has created a dramatic symphony from the ballet. Rather than simply presenting a suite of the well-known music, he wanted to give these musical bonbons a greater degree of context and to show that there is other fine music in the ballet. He comments, "When creating this Dramatic Symphony version, I didn’t make musical choices according to the popularity of certain movements. Instead, my choices were based on what material and movements I thought would be most interesting and riveting to listen to in sequence. I wanted music that would hold the listener’s attention throughout, so I reorchestrated and rewrote some elements, and created new transitions"
The orchestra's live concerts are usually dramatic events, with the players often playing from memory and the music accompanied by lighting and dramatic staging. The recording took place in Tallinn in September 2022, following the orchestra's tour of Germany and Estonia, and the atmosphere of a live concert was recreated in Estonian Public Broadcasting Studio 1. With no music stands, the musicians were mostly standing up, spread out and not in their sections, free to move and even dance to the music. Gertrud Leopard, an Estonian percussionist in the orchestra who was familiar with the studio in Tallinn, having recorded there twice before, says: "Recording from memory is a unique experience for me. It means I can focus more on the music, without having to concentrate on the score. With the special atmosphere in the studio, it really feels like we are performing, and we are building a unique connection within the orchestra."
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