The piece
The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy comes from the second act of The Nutcracker, the ballet Tchaikovsky wrote in 1892: the fairy dances for Clara in the Land of Sweets. The tune was played by a brand-new instrument, the celesta, whose bell-like sound Tchaikovsky had discovered in Paris. This easy version keeps the introduction, with its plucked notes like pizzicati, then the theme twice, in E minor, after a piano transcription from the early twentieth century.
The right hand plays the tune alone: repeated notes, D, D, D, then C-sharp and C, to keep light and even. The left hand places one note on each eighth, staccato: do not let it cover the tune. Play slowly at first, detaching every note, then move towards the tempo without losing its mysterious air.
