Concert Suite from “The Nutcracker” (1892)

arranged for piano by Mikhail Pletnev (b1957)

March

Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy

Tarantella

Intermezzo

Trepak (Russian Dance)

Tea (Chinese Dance)

Pas de Deux: andante maestoso

There are two official piano versions of the Nutcracker ballet score, a difficult one by Taneyev and a simplified one by Tchaikovsky himself, neither of them intended for concert performance. Mikhail Pletnev’s “concert suite” is something else. It is not (as alleged in the New Grove) an arrangement of the Nutcracker Suite but a personal selection of episodes from the ballet presented in an entirely arbitrary order. A brilliant example of the art of transcription, it sounds in places as though it were elaborated by a Liszt or a Balakirev while, in fact, it is derived directly from Tchaikovsky’s orchestral scoring

The one piece Pletnev presents in the right place, as far as the story is concerned, is the opening March, which is associated with the entry of the children in the opening scene. The Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy comes from the other end of the ballet, where it is the second of the two “Variations” following the Pas de deux of the Sugar-Plum Fairy and Prince Coqueluche. The Tarantella, the first of those “Variations,” is not included in Tchaikovsky’s own Nutcracker Suite. Nor is the so-called Intermezzo, which is one of Tchaikovsky’s finest melodic inspirations. The Russian Dance and Chinese Dance are among the national specialities presented as a divertissement in the second act. Those two short movements, both of them familiar from the Nutcracker Suite, are well placed to offset the more seriously developed Pas de deux which, given Pletnev’s resourceful piano writing, makes a dramatic and expansive ending.

arranged for piano by Mikhail Pletnev (b1957)

March

Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy

Tarantella

Intermezzo

Trepak (Russian Dance)

Tea (Chinese Dance)

Pas de Deux: andante maestoso

There are two official piano versions of the Nutcracker ballet score, a difficult one by Taneyev and a simplified one by Tchaikovsky himself, both of them completed before the first performance in 1892. Mikhail Pletnev’s “concert suite” is something else. It is not (as alleged in the New Grove) an arrangement of the Nutcracker Suite but an entirely personal selection of seven episodes from the complete ballet presented in an entirely arbitrary order. A brilliant example of the art of transcription, it sounds in places as though it were elaborated by a Liszt or a Balakirev while, in fact, it is derived directly from Tchaikovsky’s orchestral scoring.

The one piece Pletnev presents in the right place, as far as the story is concerned, is the opening March, which is associated with the entry of the children to view the Christmas tree in the opening scene. The Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy - which makes such a prominent feature of the recently invented celesta in the original score - comes from the other end of the ballet, where it is the second of the two “Variations” following the Pas de deux of the Sugar-Plum Fairy and Prince Coqueluche in the second act. The Tarantella, the first of those “Variations,” is not included in Tchaikovsky’s own Nutcracker Suite. Nor is the so-called Intermezzo, which is actually the introduction to the second scene of the first act. It is one of Tchaikovsky’s finest melodic inspirations and, in spite of the inborn aptitude of the material for sustained wind and string lines, one of Pletnev’s most successful arrangements.

The Trepak (or Russian Dance) and Tea (or Chinese Dance) are among the national specialities presented as a divertissement in the second act. Those two short movements, both of them familiar from the Nutcracker Suite, are well placed to offset the more seriously developed Pas de deux which, though written for characters no more romantic than a confectionary Fairy and a cough-syrup Prince, is impulsively expressive. Given Pletnev’s resourceful piano writing, it makes a dramatic and appropriately expansive ending.

arranged for piano by Mikhail Pletnev (b1957)

March

Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy

Tarantella

Intermezzo

Trepak (Russian Dance)

Tea (Chinese Dance)

Pas de Deux: andante maestoso

Mikhail Pletnev won the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1978 and promptly created another sensation with his recording of his own arrangement of music from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. There were already two official piano versions of the ballet score, a difficult one by Taneyev and a simplified one by Tchaikovsky himself, both of them completed before the first performance in 1892. Pletnev’s “concert suite” is something else. It is not (as alleged in the New Grove) an arrangement of the Nutcracker Suite but an entirely personal selection of seven episodes from the complete ballet presented in an entirely arbitrary order. Most extraordinary of all is the alchemy of its piano writing, which sounds in places as though it were elaborated by a Liszt or a Balakirev while it is derived directly from Tchaikovsky’s orchestral scoring.

The one piece Pletnev presents in the right place, as far as the story is concerned, is the opening March, which is associated with the entry of the children to view the Christmas tree in the first scene of the first act. The Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy - which makes such a prominent feature of the recently invented celesta in the original score - comes from the other end of the ballet, where it is the second of the two “Variations” following the Pas de deux of the Sugar-Plum Fairy and Prince Coqueluche in the second act. The Tarantella, the first of those “Variations” (slightly shorter in the ballet than it is here), is not included in Tchaikovsky’s own Nutcracker Suite. Nor is the so-called Intermezzo, which is actually the introduction to the second scene of the first act, where Claire and the Nutcracker Prince, triumphant in their battle against the Mouse King, find themselves in a pine forest on their way to the Palace of Sweets. One of Tchaikovsky’s finest melodic inspirations, it is also one of Pletnev’s most successful transcriptions in spite of the inborn aptitude of the material for sustained wind and string lines and rippling harp accompaniment.

The Trepak (or Russian Dance) and Tea (or Chinese Dance) are among the national specialities presented as a divertissement for Claire and the Nutcracker Prince in the Palace of Sweets in the second act. Those two short movements, both of them familiar from the Nutcracker Suite, are well placed to offset the more seriously developed Pas de deux which, though written for characters no more romantic than a confectionary Fairy and a cough-syrup Prince, is impulsively expressive. Given Pletnev’s resourceful piano writing, it makes a dramatic and appropriately expansive ending.