Celebrate Advent with Deutsche Grammophon

Discover one essential work each weekend until Christmas. Explore multiple different recordings of each work and be astonished how interpretation changes perception. Build your knowledge in Xmas repertoire or re-discover old favorites and first and foremost: enjoy!

This week’s featured work: Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker

What would Christmas be without Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker? Unthinkable! Today on the 6th of December it is exactly 132 years since the Nutcracker ballet was performed for the first time at the Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg. It was December 6, 1892, and ever since Christmas has not been the same.

“Messiah” by Georg Frederic Handel

Do you know this fun fact? The famous ‘Hallelujah’ is one of the most frequently performed pieces in music literature. In many places around the world, it is customary for the audience to stand up for this part of the performance – legend has it that when King George II first heard the chorus, he was so moved that he jumped to his feet, prompting everyone else to follow his example.

Explore Handel’s mighty “Messiah” below and: be moved!

Each day until Christmas we will bring you a new, specially curated playlist. For different occasions and different moods, but with just one aim in mind: to bring you the best classical “soundtrack” for your “most wonderful time of the year”. Because: what would Christmas be without great music?