So happy to hear that the Ellington and Strayhorn adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” continues to be a big hit and is becoming an American classic.

It has become easier to achieve as well. This is the 50th anniversary year of the release of the original recording of that work. We are pleased to announce that Alfred Publishing is now distributing the only AUTHORIZED score for that work. The present score for all nine of the movements is a result of a collaboration between the estates of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. The scores are drawn from the original manuscripts from the Strayhorn repository (Strayhorn arranged no fewer than six of the movements) and the Smithsonian Ellington archive. Editor Jeff Lindberg further checked the accuracy against the original recording as well.

We encourage everyone to make this authentic score part of their library from now on. Many have already begun to do so.

Thank you again for continuing this fine tradition.

Sincerely,

A. Alyce Claerbaut
President
Billy Strayhorn Songs, Inc.