Complete with well illustrated 52-page booklet and a touching introduction by Simon Rattle explaining how, after initial resistance, he came to love Tchaikovsky's music, this complete Nutcracker ballet is glorious. The quality of the Berliners' playing is unrivalled, with some of the best woodwind you'll ever hear. Strings are warm and precise, with cellos unfurling passionately in the Pas de Deux. Brass, too, is golden-toned and characterful. Act I was recorded in the studio, Act II is live. Rattle renewed his contract with EMI last year. This is one of the fruits, not to say – bearing in mind that famous chocolate ad which borrowed the Dance of the Reed Pipes – nuts, of that long association.