THE NUTCRACKER

Maestro Classics CD/MP3 Stories in Music

My first trip to The Nutcracker was as a child.  And I have been enchanted ever since.  The holidays are not the holidays without Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece either on stage or playing in a room.

I started ballet when I was five years old and when I came home with bloody toes from being “en pointe” I hated my parents for putting me through the torture of lessons.  And then as I grew older, I was lucky enough to experience The Nutcracker and ballet became a calling and a blessing.  I hope all children have the opportunity to listen to the story of The Nutcracker ballet, where little Clara is given a nutcracker on Christmas Eve and watches as he comes to life as a handsome prince.  The prince has to battle the Mouse King, and then takes Clara to the Land of the Sugar Plum Fairy.  As she wakes on Christmas Day, Clara wonders if it was a dream – or real.  And I believe most of us have experienced the beauty of both the music and the ballet as adults.

Maestro Classics is one of the best ways that I know of to introduce children to the world of music and the stories that have compelled ballet for many many years and fill us all with the wonder and joy that they offer us.  Conductor Stephen Simon leads the London Philharmonic Orchestra in a sweepingly beautiful rendition of the Nutcracker as Narrator Jim Weiss tells the story in a manner that enchants not only children but adults alike.

Begun in 2004 as over a decade of sold out Stories and Music family concerts at the Kennedy Center with the Washington Chamber Symphony, led by Stephen Simon, with Bonnie Ward Simon as executive producer, Maestro Classis Stories in Music is the BEST, in my mind, way to introduce the classics in music to children of all ages.  Available at maestroclassics.com, Amazon, iTunes and other retailers, there is no better gift to a child than the wonder and joy of great music and the stories behind them.  As narrator, Jim Weiss captures the imagination with his wonderful manner of talking directly to your child without talking down to them.

Creative and imaginative, I have ALWAYS given Maestro Classics in my grandchildren’s Christmas stockings and this year will be no different!  In addition to The Nutcracker, the Stories in Music series includes Merry Pranks of Master Till, Carnival of the Animals, The Soldier’s Tale, My Name is Handel: the Story of Handel’s The Water Music, Peter and the Wolf, The Tortoise and the Hare The Story of Swan Lake, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, Casey at the Bat, and Juanita the Spanish Lobster.  I have reviewed most of them and you can purchase the entire collection with the accompanying activity books at their website.  A better gift for your child is impossible to imagine!

I LOVE MAESTRO CLASSICS!

Ratings are based on a 5-star scale

Overall: 5+++
Review by Broad A
We received a copy of this title for our review. All opinions are our own

The Nutcracker is available for purchase on Amazon.com and at music retailers nationwide