''The Nutcracker Suite'' is a recording by American guitarist
Tim Sparks
Tim Sparks (born October 31, 1954) is an American acoustic guitar player, singer, arranger and composer.
Life
Raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he was given his first guitar when a bout of encephalitis kept him out of school for a year. T ...
, released in 1993. It consists of both an adaptation for acoustic guitar of
Tchaikovsky's suite from his 1892 ballet ''
The Nutcracker'' and the Balkan Dreams Suite, a suite of songs based on melodies and ideas of
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...
. Sparks won the 1993
National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship playing his solo guitar arrangement of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite".
Walnut Valley Festival web site.
Reception
A review of the album in ''Classical Guitar Magazine'' stated: "After listening to the CD, I must admit that Sparks catches the essence of the music in a wonderful way. For the advanced player, this is an excellent edition to reap the rewards of the Nutcracker Suite."
'' Guitar Player'' called it "An exhilarating, odd-meter minefield inspired by Near Eastern music. An important recording from a gifted composer, arranger and performer."
Track listing
(P.I. Tchaikovsky/arr. Tim Sparks)
# "Overture" – 2:10
# "March of the Toy Soldiers
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Mar ...
" – 2:12
# "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...
" – 1:57
# "Cossack Dance
Hopak ( uk, гопа́к, ) is a Ukrainian folk dance originating as a male dance among the Zaporozhian Cossacks, but later danced by couples, male soloists, and mixed groups of dancers. It is performed most often as a solitary concert dance by ...
" – 1:22
# "Arabian Dance
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Pl ...
" – 2:41
# " Chinese Dance" – 1:15
# "Dance of the Reed Pipes
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...
" – 2:50
# " Waltz of the Flowers" – 6:11
Balkan Dreams Suite (trad. arr. Tim Sparks)
# "Oniro/Dimineatsa Dupa Nunta" – 3:09
# "Samiotisa – 2:33
# "Tatavliano Hasapiko" – 2:35
# "Melek N'ty Ubana" – 4:06
# "The Blues on Bartok Street" (Tim Sparks) – 3:25
Personnel
*Tim Sparks - acoustic guitar, requinto
Production notes
*Produced by Tim Sparks
*Engineered, mixed and mastered by Jay M. Fleming
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nutcracker Suite, The
1993 albums
Tim Sparks albums
The Nutcracker