Tchaikovsky - Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy for Clarinet Quartet

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is one of the most famous Russian composers. As a composer in the Romantic period, his music tends to be dramatic and emotional. He is most famous for his ballets, one of them being "The Nutcracker."

"Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" is the third movement of the second act of "The Nutcracker" ballet. The ballet choreographer, Marius Petipa wanted the music to sound like water dripping from a fountain. Tchaikovsky achieved this by featuring a brand-new instrument at the time that looked like a piano but sounded like bells-the celesta. This arrangement is for clarinet quartet, with the celesta part distributed between the parts.