Tchaikovsky 'Dance of the Flutes' - Nutcracker Suite - Stokowski conducts

Leopold Stokowski loved to conduct Slavic music, especially the works of Tchaikovsky. When he began to make primitive 78rpm records with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1917, Tchaikovsky's name was among the first to be featured. In fact, Stokowski made the very first recording of the 'Dance of the Flutes' from the "Nutcracker Suite" in 1922 and four years later made the first American recording of the complete Suite.

Parts of the Suite were included in Walt Disney's "Fantasia" (1940) in which the music of Tchaikovsky and other great composers was introduced to movie-goers. It was played on the soundtrack by Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra, while colourful and imaginative animations appeared on the screen. Here is the 'Dance of the Flutes,' somewhat abridged and presented as a kind of water ballet for flowers. The complete movie can still be obtained on DVD and is excerpted here with all due acknowledgements.