In 1954, Antal Dorati', former conductr with the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo and then the conductor for the Minneapolis Symphony, recorded the first complete Nutcracker ballet for Mercurty Records. It remains one of the best, but Mercury has never released it on CD. I assume it was the huge success that year of the New York City Ballet production that initiated interest in recording it. And sop began Dorati's trek through Tchaikovsky's threee ballet scores.
In 1955, the same conductorv and orchestra recorded the first complete Sleeping Beauty ballet on three LPs. It, too, is excellent, and Mercury has never released it on CD. A Dorati Society has released a very poor transfer on CD that costs a fortune, but it's lousy.
Dorati and his band also recorded a 2-LP Swan Lake, but it is nt Tchaikovsky's original score. Instead it is the same performing edition rthat's been used since 1900 or so with large cuts, music mopvewd to diffewrent places, and sevceral Tchaikovasky piano pieces interpol;ated into it.
