Shawn,
The mixing engineer (for the original stereo version and the surround version) was listed above, it's George Massenburg. Mastering was by the (rightfully famous in his circle) Bob Ludwig, of Gateway Mastering and DVD (also listed above). It's a good bet that when you see Bob Ludwig's...
Lance, I'm not a big classical music guy, but I'd venture to say that something out of the baroque era (which Handel is) won't have the same pyrotechnic qualities that Stravinsky has. It's very nice, tasteful stuff... but it won't have that aggressive side that the Stravinsky material has...
Lance,
That's a new one.... "Chicks dig Tchaikovsky" just doesn't have that same ring to it, though does it? ;)
Anyway, I actually enjoy the Nutcracker suite, it has a relatively challenging bass clarinet part (for orchestral work), which is very rare indeed. I've played it once or twice...
I received a screener copy of this disc about two weeks ago, and in that time have had the pleasure to play it back on both a Kenwood DV-5700 and the Meridian 598/568.2 combination. The stereo tracks are direct from 30ips stereo masters. The surround tracks are from original multi-track...