Here's something you might be interested in.
If you haven’t noticed, every-other-little-girl in town is currently appearing in a production of The Nutcracker.
Each year a new crop of youngsters gets an introduction to ballet and orchestral music via Tchaikovsky’s charming composition.
Initially, The Nutcracker flopped. What did succeed was the twenty minute orchestral suite that Tchaikovsky pulled out of the complete score.
I like the orchestral suite but it doesn’t include what has become one of my favorite parts of The Nutcracker.
The Pas de Deux just before the final waltz is incredible. The entire dance is based on a descending major scale. Think do, ti, la, so, fa, mi, re, do.
That’s it. That’s the theme. Tchaikovsky uses this basic musical scale to great effect.
He continues using the descending major scale as his theme but travels to different keys and develops variations on it until bring us back home with a dramatic restatement of the original theme.
That isn’t the end.
In the final passage, the brass section pronounces the theme as The Cavalier hoists The Sugar Plum Fairy overhead.
It is a goose bump moment that we miss if we only listen to the suite.
Highlights and suites are wonderful but sometimes we miss the best parts of the story if we only listen to the Cliff Notes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG0jMkoKLJo
If you haven’t noticed, every-other-little-girl in town is currently appearing in a production of The Nutcracker.
Each year a new crop of youngsters gets an introduction to ballet and orchestral music via Tchaikovsky’s charming composition.
Initially, The Nutcracker flopped. What did succeed was the twenty minute orchestral suite that Tchaikovsky pulled out of the complete score.
I like the orchestral suite but it doesn’t include what has become one of my favorite parts of The Nutcracker.
The Pas de Deux just before the final waltz is incredible. The entire dance is based on a descending major scale. Think do, ti, la, so, fa, mi, re, do.
That’s it. That’s the theme. Tchaikovsky uses this basic musical scale to great effect.
He continues using the descending major scale as his theme but travels to different keys and develops variations on it until bring us back home with a dramatic restatement of the original theme.
That isn’t the end.
In the final passage, the brass section pronounces the theme as The Cavalier hoists The Sugar Plum Fairy overhead.
It is a goose bump moment that we miss if we only listen to the suite.
Highlights and suites are wonderful but sometimes we miss the best parts of the story if we only listen to the Cliff Notes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG0jMkoKLJo