"The Nutcracker" is one of the composer's three major ballets along with "Swan Lake" and "Sleeping Beauty". This suite was edited by the composer himself, selected from the full ballet.
Tchaikovsky was commissioned by the St. Petersburg Theater in early 1890. He started composing in 1891, and in the same year he traveled to Paris and New York, where he encountered a new instrument, Celesta, unknown in Russia at the time. The ballet was completed in 1892; the suite version premiered in March and the ballet version premiered in December.
Subject matter is the (German) Hoffmann fairy tale and the ballet adapted by M. Petipa from the French version of the story of Dumas. The fantasy of the Nutcracker and the girl Clara on Christmas night is quite famous.
This clarinet octet version was commissioned and premiered in 2002 by MOON CLARINET ENSEMBLE.
Instrumentation is Eb Clarinet, 1st, 2nd 3rd, 4th Bb Clarinets, Alto Clarinet, Bass Clarinet and Contra-alto Clarinet. Alto Clarinet can be played by Bb Clarinet, Contra-alto Clarinet can be played by Contrabass Clarinet or String Bass.

(Satoshi Kobayashi)