Nutcracker Suite

Album by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky & The Philadelphia Orchestra & Eugene Ormandy

The Nutcracker Suite is an orchestral suite by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, arranged from his ballet The Nutcracker and released in 1892. The music comprises a series of dance-inspired movements that showcase Romantic-era orchestration with vivid orchestral colours, flowing string melodies, distinctive woodwind writing and varied rhythmic characters, and the suite helped bring excerpts of Tchaikovsky's ballet music into the concert repertoire and wider public awareness.