Yesterday I listened to the third in my series of Nutcracker complete ballet recordings. This one was my reel-to-reel copy of Ansermet conducting the Suisse Romande.
I had once held this as my go-to version, but that was then and this is now. It's not BAD, it's certainly generally okay, but for me, nowadays, Dorati and Irving are in the lead for their clean and incisive readings. Also, and I would be horrified to say this if I still valued it, but it sounded like this tape copy is beginning to deteriorate -- something I'm very happy to say is not the case with the other tapes I own. I know I need to clean and demagnetize the tape heads on my machine, and that will be done before I play another tape, but I think this was the tape itself. I'll check it after that, and give it the toss if necessary. Hell, I should do that, anyway, in the spirit of letting things go that do not continue to bring something positive to the table.
