Piotr Illitch Tchaikovsky

The Nutcracker

Concert Suite
from “The Nutcracker”
Arrangement: Pletnev

March
Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy
Tarantella
Intermezzo
Trepak (Russian Dance)
The Tea (Chinese Dance)
Pas de Deux

Piano pieces opus 72

N°4 Danse caractéristique
N°5 Méditation
N°6 Mazurka pour danser
N°7 Polonaise de concert
N°8 Dialogue
N°16 Valse à cinq temps
N°14 Chant élégiaque
N°18 Invitation au Trepak

Elena Filonova, piano

Production, Sound Engineer:
Lubov Doronina.
Mastering: Pavel Lavrenenkov.
Recorded in Moscow, October 2002.
Remasterised by Marc Lipka

MARCAL Classics
MA040701

Jean Roy, Le Monde de la musique, October 2004

The transcription – or should it be the arrangement – of The Nutcracker was one of Mikhail Pletnev’s first trials. He engineered the piano reproduction of Tchaikovsky’s ballet orchestra and in particular the Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy where the celesta plays an important role. This French pianist of Russian origin, Elena Filonova, student under Emil Gilel, plays this music with as much sparkle, coherence in the assembling of colours and rhythmic precision as she is discreet in her expressiveness.
This CD is not only interesting for the discovery of the famous Nutcracker but also for the 8 sections out of the 18 in the opus 72, that Tchaikovsky composed between 19th April and 4th May 1893, the same year in which he died. From Meditation (n°4) to Chant Elégiaque (n°14) popularly inspired songs are opposed, such as Invitation au Trepak (n°18). Here again, Elena Filonova is a faithful interpreter of both the score and the spirit of the essentially Russian music by Tchaikovsky.