TCHAIKOVSKY: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Vladimir Magalashvili & Aleksandr Volkov, organ

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from the Nutcracker Suite. 4K Video. Played by Vladimir Magalashvili & Aleksandr Volkov on the Steinmeyer organ (1925, III/71/P) in Ss. Corpus Christi, Berlin. Organ arrangement by Alexander Grudinkin. • The Nutcracker is an 1892 two-act classical ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky set on Christmas Eve. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy sounds towards the end of the second act and is conceived as a solo part of a pas de deux. Choreographer Marius Petipa wanted the Sugar Plum Fairy’s music to sound like “drops of water shooting from a fountain“. Tchaikovsky found the ideal instrument to do this job in Paris in 1891. Celeste became this instrument! Tchaikovsky introduced the celesta to Russian music lovers on 19 March 1892 when the Nutcracker Suite was performed for the Russian Musical Society in St. Petersburg. The instrument is forever identified with the Sugar Plum Fairy.