
Laura Tong and artists of The Australian Ballet. Photography Jeff Busby
The Score
It's the last of Tchaikovsky's three great ballet scores, and some would argue his most charming. The story speaks through the staves: the whirling of the wind in the Waltz of the Snowflakes, the plinking of a fountain in the Sugar Plum Fairy's variation, the sensual abandonment of the Coffee variation - each are vividly evoked by Tchaikovsky's masterful use of orchestral colour.