New arrangement of The Nutcracker!

by Scott

A few years ago, we learned and performed the Eduard Langer (1835-1905) 4-hand transcription of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. It was a bit frustrating to work with because of many inconsistencies when music repeated (certain notes would be randomly put in the other person’s part even though the music was otherwise identical), and many difficult passages that required awkward hand positions (often an issue in 4-hand playing!) and had a few too many notes. Since Christmas season is not a time when we wanted to be stressed about playing a difficult arrangement, last winter I decided to arrange several of the movements myself in a simpler and more playable way for us to play and record for our Christmas album. This season, I completed the remaining two movements, and now have a 60-page arrangement of the entire suite! We had the opportunity to perform the world premiere of the suite last weekend at our Whistler concert. It was a lot of fun and we look forward to our next performance of the work in Abbotsford next month!

Part of Langer’s arrangement of the Overture (primo part).

You can sense the frustration in the many scribbles!

My arrangement of the same passage (both parts).

Ahh, that’s a relief!

Langer’s arrangement of the Dance of the Reed Flutes (primo part)

This passage had many notes, which made it difficult to sound light, and many awkward hand positions.

My arrangement of the same passage (both parts)

Much thinner texture and a lot more comfortable to play!