How does this dance and the rest of “The Nutracker” compare with Tchaikovsky’s other ballet scores?

It’s his last ballet. He didn’t really like the idea of the project, but he obliged. And it ended up being one of his most successful pieces. It’s ironic that it was approached with such reluctance. So often that seems to happen in history.

“The Sleeping Beauty” is the ultimate dancer’s ballet. But musically, it perhaps doesn’t have the inventiveness that “The Nutcracker” does. It’s also an hour longer. When a composer has a smaller template, it forces an inventiveness. “Waltz of the Flowers” may be the longest number, and it’s under six minutes.

I put the “Waltz of the Flowers” up against any waltz written by anybody. It’s certainly one of the top five waltzes of all time, and I include all of the Strauss family in that sweeping statement. And the great theme of the pas de deux, which might be lost on the children, was written on a dare. Someone said, “I bet you can’t write a melody that’s just a scale.” But there it is; it’s incredible. We also have his Russianness coming out in the Trepak. And the overture is not for the whole orchestra; it’s for the upper strings. By doing that, he takes us into this world of tiny tots.

There’s a lightness to it.

A total lightness, which is a brilliant idea. Then, as soon as the curtain’s up, we see grown-ups — the parents, the grandparents. So it’s back to normal orchestration. It’s a genius stroke.

How is it different to play to a younger audience?

There are hazards. There was a performance last year where a little child sat on his grandfather’s lap right behind me. He had this huge bag of M&Ms. The whole time I could hear this chomping. You can’t say, “Please stop eating those.” Then I kept thinking: “Surely, that’s enough. He’s going to be sick. Oh no, he’s going to be sick on me.” So, it’s a little distracting. The ballerinas look at the conductor, and they were all distracted, too. Normally that just doesn’t happen. There’s crying, but this is the piece for it. You don’t bring kids to Mahler’s Ninth.

One of the mantras of classical music is that there’s no new audience. Well, we get one every season with this piece. Every child from New York, every child who visits, experiences this if they’re lucky. It’s so fun to go out every night and know you’re going to reach some of these little kids. Some of them will squirm through it. But some will be transformed by it.