A Cappella group Pentatonix recently won a Grammy Award for their arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, in the category “Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella”.
Even though we associate the melody of the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy with innocent, sugar-coated childhood memories, it was a very experimental piece with one of the first documented uses of the celesta (the instrument was invented in 1886, six years prior to the premiere of the Nutcracker). Moreover, you come think of it, it’s quite a spooky melody.
Well, Pentatonix managed to make what is perhaps Tchaikovsky’s most famous melody even eerier and creepier. We particularly like the accelerando in the second half of the song, especially because it makes the melody even more haunting. Since their Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy was released in December 2014, it did not qualify for the 2015 edition of the Grammy awards.
This was the second grammy for the Dalton-based group, who, last year won in the same category for their a-cappella Daft Punk medley.