微信节目册｜2025苏州交响乐团新年音乐会

陈燮阳 | 指挥

著名指挥家，“上海文学艺术杰出贡献奖”获得者，国家一级指挥。从上海音乐学院毕业后，曾任上海芭蕾舞团管弦乐队常任指挥、中央歌剧院院长。1982年他应邀在美国阿思本音乐节指挥音乐节乐团，大获成功。1984年出任上海交响乐团团长，1986年被任命为上海交响乐团音乐总监，成为中国文化发展史上第一位文艺院团的总监。1985年以来，陈燮阳先后赴苏联、日本、意大利、美国、英国、瑞士、韩国、朝鲜、泰国、新加坡、澳大利亚、德国、丹麦、奥地利、法国、西班牙、俄罗斯等国家和港、澳、台地区，指挥本团或当地著名乐团举办音乐会，均受盛赞。陈燮阳曾率中央民族乐团赴奥地利、德国、丹麦，在世界著名的维也纳金色大厅和柏林爱乐大厅，以及其他城市音乐厅举办中国新年音乐会，赴美国参加“中华文化美国行”巡回演出。他带领上海交响乐团2003年在美国11个城市的巡演、2004“中法文化年”的欧洲巡演。特别是2004年6月20日，为庆祝上海交响乐团建团125周年，由他指挥上交在柏林爱乐大厅举行的庆典音乐会，获得巨大成功。

陈燮阳现为苏州交响乐团音乐总监、上海交响乐团名誉音乐总监、中国国家交响乐团特邀指挥、第十届全国政协委员、上海市政协委员、上海音乐家协会副主席、中国音乐家协会理事和上海交响乐爱好者协会会长。

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CHEN Xieyang | Conductor

Renowned conductor CHEN Xieyang has received the decoration "Shanghai literature and Art Outstanding Contribution Award", the national first-grade conductor. After graduating from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, CHEN was appointed resident conductor of the Shanghai Ballet Orchestra, and served as Director of the Central Opera House in Beijing. In 1982 CHEN was invited to conduct the Aspen Festival Orchestra in the United States. Following his success there he was appointed the President of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. In 1986 CHEN became appointed Music Director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra – the first music director of any performing groups in Chinese history. During his tenure at the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, he took the orchestra on an 11-city tour in the United States in 2003 and in the following year to Europe for the Sino-French Culture Year. On the occasion of the 125th Anniversary of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, he conducted the orchestra in the Berlin Philharmonie to great acclaim.

He has conducted orchestras both in China and abroad, including the USA, Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Japan, Korea, the DPRK, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. He has led the China National Symphony Orchestra on its tours in Austria, Denmark and Germany, as well as the "Chinese Culture in America" Festival at the Lincoln Center. His concerts at the Großer Saal Musikverein of Vienna and the Lincoln Center of New York have won enormous successes.

CHEN is Honorary Music Director of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and principal Guest Conductor of China National Symphony Orchestra. CHEN has served as a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference, vice chairman of the Shanghai Musicians' Association, member of the Standing Committee of the China Musicians' Association, and chairman of the Shanghai Symphonic Music Lovers' Society.

高韶青 | 韶琴

获加拿大Gemini大奖提名的高韶青先生集演奏，作曲，音乐制作，乐器改革为一身。

在作曲方面，高韶青的二胡作品随想曲系列《思乡》、《蒙风》、《炫动》、《戈壁》及《纳西》，被公认为当今二胡的佳作，也是许多重大国际二胡比赛必选曲目。2006年，他参与作曲并演奏的电影纪录片《颍州的孩子》获奥斯卡最佳纪录短片奖。在二胡演奏方面，高韶青是世界上公认的当今最优秀的，最创新的二胡大师之一，是现代二胡音乐的代表。他曾是北京全国二胡邀请赛一等奖，最佳指定曲目，最佳自选曲目三大奖得主。高韶青曾与许多著名交响乐团合作，其中包括美国旧金山交响乐团，奥地利格拉斯交响乐团，德国班伯格交响乐团，丹麦欧伯格交响乐团，俄罗斯爱乐交响乐团，上海交响乐团，中央民族乐团等。高韶青发明的“韶琴二胡”，大大增大了二胡的音量，改善了二胡高把位的音色，震惊乐坛，好评如潮。高韶青发明的韶琴二胡电插件把二胡与现代电子音乐科技接轨，大大拓宽了二胡音乐的视野，开拓了二胡艺术发展的无限可能。

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George | Gao Shao Qin

George GAO Shaoqing, nominated for the Canadian Gemini Award, excels in performance, composition, music production, and instrument innovation. His erhu compositions, including the Nostalgia, Mongolian Wind, Dazzling, Gobi, and Naxi series, are acclaimed as masterpieces in contemporary erhu music and are compulsory selections in many major international erhu competitions. In 2006, the film documentary The Blood of Yingzhou District, which George co-composed and performed in, earned the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Regarded as one of the world’s foremost and most innovative erhu masters today, George has won numerous awards, including the First Prize, Best Designated Piece, and Best Optional Piece in the Beijing China National Invitational Erhu Competition. George has collaborated with prestigious orchestras such as the San Francisco Symphony, Graz Symphony Orchestra (Austria), Bamberg Symphony Orchestra (Germany), Odense Symphony Orchestra (Denmark), Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and China National Traditional Orchestra. George’s invention, the“Shaoqin Erhu”, significantly enhances the instrument’s volume and improves its tone quality in the higher registers, garnering widespread acclaim in the music industry. His Shaoqin Erhu electric plugin integrates the Erhu with modern electronic music technology, broadening the horizons of Erhu music and exploring infinite possibilities for artistic development.

苏州芭蕾舞团

苏州芭蕾舞团成立于2007年，是苏州文化投资发展集团旗下全资子公司，也是江苏省唯一的专业芭蕾舞团，演员均来自国内外一流芭蕾院团。

成立以来，苏芭以“国内一流、国际知名”为发展定位，坚持和遵循艺术发展规律，以推出更多优秀作品和人才、增强人民精神力量为目标，先后创排了《罗密欧与朱丽叶》《西施》《胡桃夹子》《唐寅》《天鹅湖》《我的名字叫丁香》《壮丽的云》等十部大型舞剧；创作了多部富有特色的现当代芭蕾及展现苏州风韵的舞蹈作品。在传承中，苏芭用创新理念打造出别具一格的“江南芭蕾”。

2022年，苏州芭蕾舞团全新推出一年一度“苏州国际芭蕾艺术节”，于每年金秋十月盛大开幕。艺术节集合浪漫芭蕾、古典芭蕾、现代芭蕾等不同艺术风格的精彩剧目，涵盖演出、芭蕾大师课、高峰论坛等不同板块，特邀全球名家名团汇聚一堂，以芭蕾为桥梁，打造艺术的盛会！

作为国有专业文艺院团，苏芭充分履行使命担当，经过多年的策划运营，“苏州有芭蕾”与“舞蹈大师系列”两大艺术教育品牌深入人心，持续为提高苏州市民的芭蕾艺术素养和美育水平做出应有的贡献。

自2014年起，苏芭的多部舞剧先后入选国家、省、市各级艺术基金等资助项目，并多次受国家委派和各国邀约开展国际文化交流活动，演出足迹遍布中国及法国、德国、荷兰、比利时、新加坡、波兰、卡塔尔、巴林、土耳其、拉脱维亚、阿曼、西班牙、阿尔及利亚、马来西亚等全球10多个国家70余座城市。

苏州芭蕾舞团正在不断积累沉淀，为全面推进新征程上中国芭蕾高质量发展而不懈努力。

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Suzhou Ballet Theatre

Founded in 2007, Suzhou Ballet Theatre is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Suzhou Cultural Investment Development Group Co., Ltd. and the only professional ballet company in Jiangsu Province, with dancers from first-class ballet companies at home and abroad.

Since its establishment, Suzhou Ballet Theatre has been developing towards“domestically first-class and internationally renowned”, producing works as “art-oriented”, and aiming to introduce more excellent works and talents as well as enhancing the public’s spiritual strength. The Theatre has successfully created ten large-scale productions, including Romeo and Juliet, Legend of Beauty, The Nutcracker, Tang Yin, Swan Lake, My Name is Ding Xiang and  , etc., as well as modern ballet works with distinctive Suzhou charm. Through inheritance and innovation, the Theatre has created a unique style named “Jiangnan Ballet”. 

In 2022, with the aim to further popularize ballet arts, Suzhou Ballet Theatre planned and operated the 1st Suzhou International Ballet Festival, covering Chinese and foreign master lectures, summit forums as well as performances ranging from classic ballet, modern ballet to contemporary dance. This ballet festival, offering an opportunity to enjoy the art as well as a platform where our ideas and wisdoms can be shared, is scheduled to give its grand opening each autumn in October.

As a state-owned professional ballet company, Suzhou Ballet Theatre has fully fulfilled its mission by actively planning programs during the years. The two education brands of“Ballet in Suzhou” and “Dance Master Series” have won continuous support among Suzhou citizens as well as improving the public’s artistic accomplishment. 

Since 2014, several ballet works of Suzhou Ballet Theatre have been selected into projects funded by national, provincial and municipal art funds, assigned with national tasks and invited by overseas authorities to carry out international cultural exchange activities in more than 10 countries and regions around the world, including China, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Singapore, Poland, Qatar, Bahrain, Turkey, Latvia, Oman, Spain, Algeria, Malaysia and etc.

Suzhou Ballet Theatre is constantly accumulating, and is committed to promoting the high-quality development of Chinese ballet on this new journey.

今晚，与乐手和舞者相伴，我们在柴科夫斯基用流丽音符编织的浪漫芭蕾童话中送别旧年的一切烦恼。《天鹅湖》与《胡桃夹子》恰是柴氏的首部与最后一部芭蕾音乐作品。创作一部成功的芭蕾舞并非易事：即使音乐再动人，也需要高度出色的舞美与编舞来支撑。这或许正是1877年，《天鹅湖》于莫斯科首演时反响平平的原因。事实上，在此作首演后的几年里，乐谱曾一度因平庸的剧场制作而受冷遇，这也促使作曲家有所反思；在后来的芭蕾舞作中，他与舞蹈家、剧作家的合作更加紧密。《天鹅湖》则是直至柴科夫斯基逝世后，才逐渐赢得应有的赞誉。

剧情讲述的是王子齐格弗里德在一次打猎中偶然遇到了一群天鹅，其中一只竟然变成了一位曼妙的少女——奥杰塔。王子立刻被她深深吸引。然而，奥杰塔受缚于魔咒，在白天时只能由人变回天鹅。全剧的悬念就在于齐格弗里德能否拯救她。《天鹅湖》讲述的是关于黑魔法与无望之爱的故事，而作品真正的“魔力”却来自柴可夫斯基的迷人配乐。至今我们仍不清楚到底是什么启发了作曲家。1877年版的剧本中未提及任何文学灵感，也没有记录柴可夫斯基与他的编舞家朱利尤斯·赖辛格是如何合作的。天鹅女王屈服于王子的爱这一构思，可以说几乎完全是柴可夫斯基的原创灵感（据说这一构思基于他曾为逗乐自己的侄子和侄女而编的一个故事，也有人认为故事受到了流行小说《温蒂妮》的影响。）

柴可夫斯基的音乐完美捕捉了芭蕾舞的流畅感，耳熟能详的优美旋律线贯穿全曲。可是，作曲家本人对自己依旧持批判态度，他坦言道：“我听了德利布的芭蕾舞曲《希尔薇娅》……多么迷人、多么优雅，旋律、节奏与和声多么丰盈。我感到羞愧，如果当初我听过这部作品，我是不会写下《天鹅湖》的。”庆幸的是，这种自我怀疑并未阻碍《天鹅湖》的诞生，而柴可夫斯基用来赞美德利布作品的话语，同样适用于《天鹅湖》中那些令人陶醉的旋律与色彩斑斓的配器。

《天鹅湖》首演的五年后，柴可夫斯基曾考虑将作品中的部分乐章改编为音乐会组曲。然而，这个决定却迟迟未被落实。至于这套在他去世后出版的音乐会组曲（作品20a）作者的身份，至今仍存争议。组曲以第二幕第十场的场景开篇：月光下，波光粼粼的湖面上，王子齐格弗里德和他的朋友们注视着在水面上滑行而过的一群天鹅。弦乐的颤音与竖琴轻盈的琶音烘托出哀婉的双簧管独奏。在音乐的逐步铺垫中，王子意识到这些天鹅的真实身份其实是奥杰塔与她的随侍们，因而随即制止了猎人们的行动。管弦乐队在铜管乐器威严的音色支撑下，将原本的旋律放大，营造出一种不祥的预兆。双簧管的独奏则作为一个反复出现的主题，贯穿全剧，用来象征奥杰塔的出现。

第二幕的《华尔兹》包含多段优美动听的旋律，其中包括一段小号独奏。佩季帕和伊万诺夫为《四小天鹅舞》编排的舞蹈，是芭蕾中最具辨识度的瞬间之一：天鹅们排成一行，手臂交错编织，伴随木管乐器俏丽的主题，轻盈地以足尖舞姿步入舞台中央。齐格弗里德与奥杰塔的第二幕《双人舞》突出的是小提琴的独奏：一开始是小提琴与竖琴二重奏，之后则是小提琴与大提琴间充满激情、亲密对话般的段落。接下来的四个乐章由表现不同民族气质的舞曲组成。匈牙利的《恰尔达什舞》突出了强调鲜明重音的弦乐声部以及罗姆族音乐特有的律动；音乐最终发展为令人目眩神迷的狂欢。紧随其后的舞曲，藉由类似于弗拉明戈响板的打击乐色彩，令人一听便知是西班牙风格。接下来的《那不勒斯舞曲》则在一种截然不同的情绪中开始，由小号演奏的歌谣旋律让人想起意大利歌剧。

在进入下一个童话故事之前，我们会先听到柴可夫斯基《D大调小提琴协奏曲》的第三乐章。不同以往的是，这绝对是一次别出心裁的演绎！二胡演奏大师高韶青将用他研发的韶琴来演奏这部享有盛誉的小提琴协奏曲。凭借经全新改制的“千斤”、琴筒等其他配件与材料，韶琴拥有比二胡更宽广的音域，更宏大的声量，以及更稳定而易于精确掌控的音准和音色。这些改变无异于更能满足现代中国乐器演奏家们的需求——演奏西方古典音乐曲目时，他们再也无需为移调烦恼。二胡这件民族乐器天然携带的传统文化意象和格调，是否因为乐器的现代改制和跨文化的音乐阐释而发生质的改变？这必然是聆听这一乐章时，一个令人兴奋且值得仔细玩味的关注点。

如今在许多欧洲国家，圣诞节若少了《胡桃夹子》便不算完整。这部芭蕾舞剧的华丽配乐同样是新年夜气氛的最佳点缀。虽然完整的舞剧于1892年首演时并未立即取得成功，但在其之前九个月前首演的《胡桃夹子组曲》却受到了热烈欢迎。舞剧的剧情改编自大仲马的短篇故事，而故事的底本则是E.T.A.霍夫曼1816年作品：《胡桃夹子与老鼠王》。

在一段美妙的小序曲之后，舞剧以圣诞派对场景拉开帷幕。派对上，主人家的女儿克拉拉收到了一个胡桃夹子礼物——这个木偶形似一位有着一个巨大下颌的老人。克拉拉立刻对这位“胡桃先生”倾心不已，当看到他被弄坏时，她非常伤心。深夜里，克拉拉无法入睡，走到客厅看望她受伤的朋友，却发现胡桃夹子和所有玩具都活了过来。旋即，一支老鼠大军出现在舞台上，而胡桃夹子率领着玩具们，在战斗音乐中与这群啮齿敌人展开一场搏斗。克拉拉鼓起勇气，用一只鞋击败了老鼠王，随之胡桃夹子便变成了一位英俊的王子。他带着克拉拉来到一片月光笼罩的森林，飘舞的雪花环绕着他们翩然起舞。王子的王国是一片糖果之乡，由糖梅仙子统治。在王子的姐妹们的陪同下，糖梅仙子热情地欢迎了克拉拉的到来。

剧中最著名、最受喜爱的片段之一便是《糖梅仙子之舞》。钢片琴轻轻勾勒出糖梅仙子的旋律，精致灵巧，作曲家又巧妙地以低沉的低音单簧管音色加以标注，略带几分诙谐。

接下来的舞蹈庆典包含了《胡桃夹子》中最为人熟知的音乐。在《俄罗斯舞曲》（特雷帕克舞）中，柴可夫斯基以母语的自然方式谱写出一段狂野而活力四射的音乐。即便看不见，听众亦能在脑海中感受到俄罗斯舞者旋转、跳跃、踢腿的画面，他们肆意狂欢，热情奔放。在的接下来《阿拉伯舞曲》中，作曲家营造出异域风情：木管乐器与小提琴奏出一段慵懒的旋律，先是由摇摆的低音弦乐的伴奏，然后转由持续低音的衬托。

在《中国舞曲》中，柴可夫斯基展现了他的“中国风”创作：长笛与短笛演奏出一段古朴而精致的高音旋律，而大管则以单一和声伴奏音型贯穿全曲。终曲《华尔兹》盛大华贵。舞剧抵达高潮，之前场景中的音乐重现，此时钢片琴与竖琴合奏，音响氛围比之前更加空灵而梦幻。之后，音乐中出现一段流光溢彩的旋律，这个主题竟是基于简单的下行大调音阶而构成的（还有谁能用简单的大调音阶，创作出如此动人的音乐？而柴可夫斯基则在多部作品中施展这种旋律才能）最后，铜管与木管乐器全力加入，故事在辉煌而振奋的乐声中画上句点。

Tonight, together with dancers from the Suzhou Ballet Theatre, we celebrate New Year's Eve with a charming programme featuring excerpts from two of the most popular ballet scores of all time—the first and last ballet compositions of Tchaikovsky. Ballets are notoriously difficult to get right: even if the music is sublime, so much is riding on the quality of the choreography and the dancing. This was perhaps the very reason why the first production of Swan Lake, which premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1877, faced a lukewarm reception, and the piece had to wait till after its composer's untimely death to achieve its well-deserved acclaim. In fact, in the years following the work's première, the score was rather manhandled, an experience from which Tchaikovsky seems to have learnt; with later ballet scores he would work more closely with ballet-masters and dramatists.

Out hunting, Prince Siegfried chances upon a flock of swans. One among them transforms into the beautiful human Odette and he is immediately enamoured. But Odette is bound by a spell which keeps her captive as a swan during the day. Can Siegfried free her? Swan Lake might be a ballet about black magic and doomed love, but the real sorcery comes from Tchaikovsky's ravishing score, whose origins remain somewhat mysterious.

The printed libretto of 1877 makes no mention of any author or literary inspiration, nor is there any record of how Tchaikovsky came to collaborate with his choreographer, Julius Reisinger. The scenario—where a swan queen yields to the love of a prince—appears to have been almost entirely Tchaikovsky's own invention, based on a tale he had once made up for the amusement of his nieces and nephews. It may also have been influenced by the popular novella Undine. Tchaikovsky's music perfectly evokes the fluidity of balletic movement, with lyrical lines that sweep through the score. Yet Tchaikovsky remained self-critical, admitting: 'I listened to the Delibes balletSylvia… what charm, what elegance, what wealth of melody, rhythm, and harmony. I was ashamed, for if I had known of this music then, I would not have written Swan Lake.' It is to be celebrated that no such obstacle prevented the composition of Swan Lake, and Tchaikovsky's own words might equally well be applied to the ballet's ravishing melodies and colourful orchestration: '… what charm, what elegance, what wealth of melody, rhythm, and harmony …'

Five years after the premiere of Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky considered creating a concert suite from numbers in the work. However, he seems never to have made a final decision, and the authorship of the concert suite published after his death as Op. 20a remains unknown. The Suite begins with a scene taken from the original Scene 10 of Act II, which portrays the shimmering lake under moonlight as Prince Siegfried and his friends watch the flock of swans gliding across the water. Tremolo strings and delicate harp arpeggios support a poignant oboe solo. This passage builds up to the revelation that the swans are Odette and her retinue, as Siegfried calls off his hunters. The orchestra, anchored by menacing brass, amplifies the original melody into a passage of ominous portent. The oboe solo serves as a recurring motif, used to signal Odette's appearance throughout the ballet. The Act II 'Waltz' features several dance-worthy melodies, including one for solo trumpet. Petipa and Ivanov's choreography for the 'Dance of the Swans' is among the most recognizable moments in the ballet, as a line of swans dances delicately en pointe, their arms "braided," to a lively theme for woodwinds. Siegfried and Odette's 'Pas de deux' from Act II highlights violin solos, an opening duet for violin and harp, and a passionate, intimate dialogue between cello and violin. The next four movements consist of folk dances representing national characters. The Hungarian 'Czardas' features the strings emphasizing sharp accents and the distinctive rhythms of Roma melodies, building into a breathlessly celebratory delirium. The dance that follows is unmistakably Spanish, with a percussive timbre reminiscent of flamenco castanets. The subsequent 'Neapolitan' Dance begins in a contrasting mood, foregrounding a lyrical ballad played on the trumpet.

Before proceeding to another ballet score, we will hear the third movement of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major, but with an unusual twist! The erhu master Gao Shaoqing will perform one of the most celebrated concertos in the classical music repertoire using the shao qin, an instrument he developed. With newly re-engineered components such as the qianjin and the soundbox, along with other innovative materials, the shao qin offers a wider range, greater volume, and more stable and precise control of pitch and timbral articulation compared to the traditional erhu. These changes arguably address the needs of contemporary musicians who plays Chinese traditional instrumentalists—no longer do they need to struggle with transposition when performing the Western classical music repertoire. Does the traditional cultural imagery and character inherently carried by the erhu undergo a fundamental transformation due to these modern innovations and cross-cultural interpretations? This can be an exciting and thought-provoking aspect to savor while listening to Gao's performance.

In many European countries today, Christmas wouldn't be complete without The Nutcracker. Yet the ballet's glorious score is equally a perfect treat for New Year's Eve. While the complete Nutcracker ballet, first staged in 1892, was not immediately successful, the 20-minute Nutcracker Suite, which Tchaikovsky premiered nine months earlier, was warmly received. Over time, the ballet gained immense popularity and became a seasonal classic. The plot is adapted from a short story by Alexandre Dumas, itself a retelling of E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. After a delicious miniature overture,the ballet begins at a Christmas party at which the host's daughter, Clara, is given a nutcracker in the shape of an old man with a giant jaw. Becoming immediately devoted to the nut-cracking gentleman, Clara is distraught when the fellow is broken; unable to sleep during the night, she comes in to look at her injured friend and finds that he and all the toys have come to life. Soon an army of mice appears upon the scene and the nutcracker leads the toys against the rodent enemy to very impressive fairy tale war music. Taking courage, Clara kills the mouse-king with a shoe, and with this victory, the nutcracker is transformed into a handsome young Prince who takes the girl with him to a moonlit forest in which snowflakes dance around them, to the waltzing wordless sighs of children's voices. The Prince's kingdom is the land of sweets. Ruling over this land is the Sugar Plum Fairy, who, along with the Prince's sisters, welcomes Clara enthusiastically. 

One of the score's best-known and -loved episodes is the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The celesta etches the Sugar Plum's melody, oh-so-delicately and, with Tchaikovskian tongue firmly in cheek, a comment is given in the deep tones of the bass clarinet.The celebration of dances that follows contains some of the most familiar music of The Nutcracker. In the Trepak (Russian Dance), Tchaikovsky is on home ground with wildly energetic music in which the mind's eye as well as the seeing eye can be amazed by the whirling, leaping, kicking Russian figures cavorting with furious abandon. Next is the Arabian Dance (coffee), and Tchaikovsky goes exotic: woodwinds and violins present a languorous melody that sways first to a rocking accompaniment in low strings, then to a persistent drone bass. The composer's chinoiserie for the Chinese Dance (tea) involves flutes and piccolo on a quaint, ornate melody in the high register, and a persistent, single-harmony accompanying figure in bassoons. The ballet's final waltz is, expectedly, a grand affair. The Apotheosis brings back the magical music from previous scenes; this time the celesta joins the harps, making the mood even more ephemeral than before. Then there is that amazing, and gloriously orchestrated, theme built on a simple descending major scale. (Who else could make such music on a major scale? Tchaikovsky did it often in his works.) Finally, brass and winds join in full force, and the curtain falls to the effulgent and exciting sounds of incomparable romantic ballet grandeur according to Tchaikovsky.