Public Domain Nutcracker Recordings

September 21, 2005 11:32 AM

Where can I find public domain recordings from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker? I know the music itself is public domain, but I'm worried about using a copyrighted recording. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies would be particularly nice since it's for a slideshow featuring pictures of little girls trying out for the ballet.
posted by TheGoldenOne to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

I'm not certain, but I think this will do:

http://www.se.fh-heilbronn.de/~po/recordings/2000-7-1/Konzert.shtml

It's linked from Classic Cat:

http://www.classiccat.net/
posted by zueod at 11:49 AM on September 21, 2005

It can be very difficult to determine the status of old sound recordings. Although federal statutory copyright protection for sound recordings is available for post-1972 sound recordings, pre-1972 sound recordings may be protected by state copyright laws that were en effect at the time the recording was made. Not to mention all of the strange ownership/assignment issues that may be involved. Old recordings are a legal thicket. The above is with regard to US law.
posted by anathema at 1:14 PM on September 21, 2005

This company may have what you're looking for: http://www.pastmasters.us/. They record public domain music off old LPs (and sometimes off old film soundtracks), remaster them, and sell them on CDs. Browsing around in their online catalogue, I found this recording on the Nutcracker Suite.

Also, my brother is a sound engineer. I needed some cheap/free classical music for an audio project once, and he sent me this advice:

You need to find a place that sells 1950s-1970s classical music LPs from the soviet union or other former Warsaw Pact country. Until Glasnost, there were no copyright laws behind the iron curtain and copyright laws are not retroactive.

I don't know if this is true.
posted by grumblebee at 2:30 PM on September 21, 2005