Previn's 1972 LSO version—reissued on Classics for Pleasure—emerges very favourably against the new competition. The recording is extremely vivid and the CD transfer a distinct success; only the string focus betrays slightly that the recording is 20 years old; woodwind and brass have plenty of colour and sonority and the balance is excellent. The performance is fresh and has a lively spontaneity. It is particularly good in the famous dances of Act 2, which have the orchestra on their toes. At mid-price this seems excellent value even if the playing time is ungenerous.
Certainly it seems remarkable that EMI have chosen to issue their new Jansons set uncoupled (87 minutes is surely short measure for two full-price CDs these days, especially when Ashkenazy's Decca alternative offers also Glazunov's complete ballet, The Seasons). The new version has been spectacularly recorded at Abbey Road. The digital sound is full and wide in range and the brass is particularly sonorous and telling. Jansons's directs the opening scene vigorously and very dramatically. The full-blooded orchestral panoply, with the tuba strongly felt at the bottom of the trombones, gives the ''Children's galop'' a sense of great gusto and the following scene when Drosselmeyer arrives is similarly animated, so that the rhythmically heavy ''Grandfather's dance'' is the more striking. The climax of the guests' departure is again excitingly played, its histrionics made to sound almost Wagnerian, and perhaps a bit out of scale. The toy battle which follows is fought with great vigour and the children's transitional journey through the pine forest is exultant rather than glowingly evocative. Thus it is not surprising that the following ''Waltz of the Snowflakes'' has a comparatively robust choral contribution: fast and lilting it has less charm than usual. However, the characteristic dances of Act 2 have the most vivid character although, by contrast the ''Sugar plum Fairy's'' celesta is very gentle and delicate. But the final scene, with its rich brass amplitude becomes expansively flamboyant. No one could complain that this music-making lacks vitality but Ashkenazy on Decca has more glowing warmth and more magic, quite apart from the Glazunov bonus.
The single disc version on Sony offers 76 minutes of music and very little of the score is cut. It was arranged to accompany a new ballet produced on video in which the stories of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol and the original scenario of Tchaikovsky's ballet are intertwined, with Clara now Bob Cratchit's daughter and Scrooge taking the place of Drosselmeyer. The appearance of Marley's Ghost and Scrooge's nightmare take the place of the usual battle scene. Unfortunately, after the drama of Jansons, the Bonn performance sounds distinctly lukewarm: the orchestral playing has little distinction and the recording, made in Cologne, is no match for either of the EMI sets in impact and vividness. I hope that with the stage action the video may be more entertaining and rewarding, as proceeds from the recording go to UNICEF, but with the best will in the world I cannot recommend the performance of the music alone.'