Tchaikovsky: use of celesta in “The Nutcracker” ballet
I have always loved the sound of this rare instrument, the celesta. And it seems as if it had been invented for such a rare genius as Tchaikovsky, and for such a rare genre as ballet.
Let us watch and listen to these two videos with excerpts of The Nutcracker, number 14. What I want to remark is the “Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy”, where she dances with the soft, beautiful sound of a celesta…
We may read the notes using the public domain editions here: scores by Tchaikovsky at the IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project).
The first video is available from the abschied222 YouTube channel and features a performance by the Bolshoi Ballet with leading roles by Yekaterina Maximova, Vladimir Vasiliev, Nadia Pavlova and Vyacheslav Gordeyev:
The second video is available from the balletvideos YouTube channel and features a performance by the Royal Ballet with leading roles by Anthony Dowell, Alina Cojocaru, Ivan Putrov, Miyako Yoshida, and Jonathan Cope:
P. S. (25 - IX - 2007): encontrei, no canal en YouTube de RyanGolddRedux, unha breve presentación da celesta (so audio, e en inglés):
