TCHAIKOVSKY'S ballet, The Nutcracker, is a Cinderella of a piece alongside Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty.

It has been viewed as inferior to the earlier ballets, a view reinforced by the trivialisation of the music as it has been hauled into service, particularly through its popular Russian Dances, for myriad light classical or seasonal concerts.

I have always argued that The Nutcracker is a far superior score in its own right than is generally allowed. But – and I'm sorry if this offends ballet buffs – it needs to be stripped of its tinsel and tutus, its choreographic trimmings and theatrical tat. It deserves a hearing as abstract music in its own right, and then you can layer any imagery on it you care. But we need to hear it as music qua music.

And that, approximately, is what we heard in the Usher Hall on Saturday night from the BBC SSO in a concert performance of the complete score, blessed by the presence of the girls of Christopher Bell's National Youth Choir of Scotland, whose flawless intonation and ensemble brought tears to the proverbial glass eye.Otherwise, it was an approximation. This had been planned as an Ilan Volkov gig, but the conductor had to change his plans when nature intervened. (He became a dad for the second time last weekend.) Josep Pons stepped in. It was a compromise. He was a bit heavy, four square and routine with the score. And the SSO's performance of Act One mirrored that, though they improved steadily throughout the night. But it was good enough to confirm The Nutcracker as a pure musical masterpiece; and that's what mattered on Saturday.

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