December 22, 2007
Part 3: Conclusion
Why, you may ask, in our last two installments, have I presented the dramatic but grim life of Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky in such detail? I think the answer is that I am fascinated that this man, despite his dour Russian heritage, probable homosexual self-loathing, inability to form relationships, admitted alcohol abuse, and extreme, suicidal depression, has provided humankind with some of the most profoundly moving, sensitive and beautiful music of all time. His exquisite melodies are known and hummed the world over; his harmonies and orchestrations are immediately identifiable; and his ability to communicate emotional depth and complexity is unexcelled in the world of music.
As we’ve said, Tchaikovsky’s musical creativity reached its zenith with his ballet The Nutcracker and his 6th Symphony, the “Pathétique.” We’ll not have more to say about the latter at this time, but I’d like to explore the former in a bit more detail.
The Nutcracker, Op. 71 is a fairy tale-ballet in two acts, three tableaux. Alexander Dumas père’s adaptation of a story by E.T.A. Hoffmann was set to music by Tchaikovsky; the ballet was written by Marius Petipa and commissioned by Director of the Imperial Theatres Ivan Vsevolozhsky in 1891. In Western countries, at least since the mid-1960s, this ballet has become the most popular ballet performed, especially around Christmas time. It contains surprisingly advanced harmonies and a wealth of melodic invention unsurpassed in ballet music.
Even before the opera’s December 1892 première, Tchaikovsky chose its eight best recognized numbers to form The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a, which he intended for concert presentation: a) Miniature Overture; b) Dance of the Reed Pipes, or Flutes; c) March; d) Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy; e) Trepak, or Russian Dance; f) Arab Dance; g) Danse Chinoise, or Chinese Dance; and h) Waltz of the Flowers. The Suite was first performed under the direction of the composer on March 19, 1892 at an assembly of the St. Petersburg branch of the Musical Society.
The Suite became immediately popular, whereas the ballet didn’t really catch on until after George Balanchine brought his production to New York in the mid-1950s. Balanchine’s Nutcracker was subsequently trumped by the highly acclaimed American Ballet Theatre version, choreographed by and starring Mikhail Baryshnikov with Marianna Tcherkassky, which premiered in 1976 at the Kennedy Center, and was re-staged for television in 1977 with Gelsey Kirkland. The Baryshnikov Nutcracker has since become both the most popular television version of the work and the bestselling videocassette and DVD version of the ballet. It usually outsells not only every other video version of The Nutcracker, but every other ballet video as well.
Over the years, a number of musicians in my collection have created and recorded jazz impressions of music from The Nutcracker Suite. Two of these early attempts can be found on a CD entitled Jazzin’ the Classics, Vol. 2: in 1941, John Kirby arranged Bounce of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy) for his sextet to play; and in 1946, Gil Evans arranged Arab Dance for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra.
In 1960, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn arranged their own adaptation of The Nutcracker Suite for the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Featured in their Suite were The Overture, Toot Toot Tootie Toot (Dance of the Reed Pipes), Peanut Brittle Brigade (March), Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy), Entr’acte, The Volga Vouty (Russian Dance), Chinoiserie (Chinese Dance), Danse of the Floreadores (Waltz of the Flowers), and Arabesque Cookie (Arabian Dance). The suite was arranged for the traditional five saxophones (two alto, two tenor, one baritone), four trumpets, three trombones, piano, bass and drums, with second alto doubling on clarinet and bamboo flute; both tenors doubling on clarinet; baritone doubling on bass clarinet; and first trumpet doubling on tambourine.
In December 2006, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) performed Ellington’s and Strayhorn’s arrangement of the Nutcracker Suite at Lincoln Center side by side with the New York Philharmonic (NYP); the NYP played the original arrangement of each section, followed by the JLCO, playing it in the Ellington/Strayhorn manner. (This same format was used in 1995, with Seiji Ozawa and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, for the Marsalis on Music young people’s series of television programs. This series is available as a boxed four-video set of tapes.)
Also in 1960, trumpeter and arranger Shorty Rogers recorded an album with his Big Band entitled The Swingin’ Nutcracker. This album included jazz interpretations of 11 selections, including Like Nutty Overture (Finale), A Nutty Marche (March), Blue Reeds (Reed Flute Blues), The Swingin’ Plum Fairy (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy), Snowball (Waltz of the Snowflakes), Six Pack (Trepak), Flowers for the Cats (Waltz of the Flowers), Dance Expresso (Coffee), Pass the Duke (Pas de Deux), China Where? (Tea Dance), and Overture for Shorty (Overture in Miniature).
Pianist Fred Hersch recorded a CD in 1993 called Red Square Blue: Jazz Impressions of Russian Composers; included is Arabian Dance, played by Hersch’s quintet. Similarly, Bert van den Brink Invites Clare Fischer, recorded in 2000, includes the two pianists improvising together on a medley that includes Dance of the Flutes.
Finally, Bill Liston arranged Waltz of the Flowers for Trumpeter Wayne Bergeron’s Big Band; this selection was recorded on 2002’s You Call This a Living?.
You can find more information about The Nutcracker Suite here. Let me be among the last to wish you Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays for the 2007 season!