Comparative listening doesn’t get much more fun than this. How right of the Duke to give equal billing to his collaborator Billy Strayhorn (1915-67) on the front sleeve of the original Columbia LP of that wonderfully affectionate and superbly stimulating reimagining of Tchaikovsky’s suite from The Nutcracker. This is the first commercial recording of it in its entirety since that legendary 1960 release and proves to have been well worth the wait. To be honest, every number brings with it an utterly inspired transformation, be it the vigorous swagger and swirl of ‘Peanut Brittle Brigade’ (March) or the intoxicatingly sinuous and sultry ‘Arabesque Cookie’ (Arabian Dance). Elsewhere, both ‘The Volga Vouty’ (Trepak) and (especially) ‘Danse of the Floreadores’ (Waltz of the Flowers) swing with a vengeance (the latter cleverly rejigged to a pulsating 4/4 beat), and if the sly wit and gawky charm of ‘Toot Toot Tootie Toot’ (Dance of the Mirlitons) and ‘Chinoiserie’ (Chinese Dance) fail to raise a chuckle, then there really is no hope for you!

Suffice to say, Steven Richman and Harmonie Ensemble/New York have a ball, and their commendably sassy rendering is preceded by a similarly buoyant and highly personable account of the original concert suite (with one or two departures from my copy of the miniature score) which has one marvelling anew at Tchaikovsky’s vernally captivating invention and consummate mastery of orchestral poise, texture and colour. The dryish acoustic – so ideally suited to the Ellington arrangement – is more of an issue here, but don’t let that deter you from investigating this brilliantly stimulating pairing which is guaranteed to provide heaps of enjoyment.