•
Rating: A ballet.
This wonder, this hypnotic sequence of sounds is nothing but music composed for a ballet. It's hard for me to imagine human beings capable of dancing to these notes, doing them justice without mortifying them or diverting attention. Yet many have done so even though I have never seen them. What I have always been able to do is listen, approaching it each time in different ways, sometimes with the primary intent of discovering its secrets, other times with the intention of letting the music fill a moment that might be too empty. Every single time, however, I couldn't help but reach the end feeling almost estranged, astonished by the stylistic and compositional perfection that made this "Nutcracker" one of the most celebrated classical compositions of all time.
A children's fairy tale, featuring a little girl who, on Christmas night, dreams of an adventure with the new toy she has been given and which her jealous little brother has broken: a nutcracker, in fact, in the shape of a soldier. They will fight the Rat King and meet the Sugar Plum Fairy, then they will return home and she will wake up. Described like this, it seems like a B-grade Japanese cartoon, translated into music it is a stunning journey into the creative genius of a great like Tchaikovsky, who gave the St. Petersburg ballet in 1891 (just two years before his death) a symphonic theme on which the dancers had to interpret the fairy tale.
Not easy: critics turned up their noses, Tchaikovsky was considered an "elite" author who had wanted to stoop to writing for ballet; the dancers, on the other hand, found that music too symphonic and demanding to dance to.
In the sequence, undoubtedly the most famous pieces are the children's march and the waltz of the snowflakes (act I), the Chinese dance and the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (act II), immortal pieces in the history of theater in music.
I'm not an expert but simply an enthusiast, and I hope those who understand more than me will not be offended if I cannot help but associate this music with the immortal image translation made by Walt Disney in "Fantasia." Perhaps many consider it trash, but the Chinese mushrooms or the ice fairies made me discover this work in its entirety, and if I hadn't. . . what a pity it would have been. . .
Tracklist
Loading comments slowly
