Episode 35: See the Music: George Balanchine's The Nutcracker®

City Ballet the Podcast is back for a special edition of See the Music. Music Director Andrew Litton hosts a tour through the musical delights of the Tschaikovsky score to George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, from the ballet’s ignominious beginnings to the composer’s felicitous discovery of the celesta—the renowned accompaniment to the Sugarplum Fairy’s introduction in Act II. Litton is joined by Concertmaster Kurt Nikkanen, who performs the lilting violin solo Balanchine borrowed from the rarely-played Entr’acte of Tschaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty for inclusion in his version of this classic holiday tale. (23:44) Music: The Nutcracker (1892) by Pyotr Ilyich Tschaikovsky