Sir Simon Rattle & Berliner PhilharmonikerTchaikovsky: The Nutcracker

This is the whole ballet, snow and sweets and all, and it sparkles end to end. Rattle keeps the Berliners light on their feet, so the Waltz of the Snowflakes shimmers like frost catching candlelight and the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy tiptoes on celesta over plucked strings, every note crystalline. Harp and woodwinds glow in the room's warm acoustic. Forget the greatest-hits suite. Put this on and let the whole story unfold.