This article is a companion to Cracking the Nutcracker in this issue.

For most harpists, the luxury of having two harps in the pit is the exception, not the rule. Even if you are lucky enough to have two harpists, there will still be awkward or impossible sections. Many orchestra pits are not large enough to fit a full orchestra, so the Nutcracker is often played in a reduced version. I have only had a second harpist on rare occasions. Here are some tips and edits when playing with two harps:

“When you have two harps, it shouldn’t be difficult,” says Willy Postma, who has played both first and second harp in her career as a freelancer and harpist with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra in Norway. “Counting the first part is important, and most important in Snowflakes. Count from the very first bar and feel the syncopation. The rest of the orchestra relies on the harp there! The Finale and Apotheosis is often shared between the harps, but I prefer to play both hands.”

Depending on the publisher, you might not have both harp parts printed in your score in Scene 8. Check out the harp part on www.imslp.com if you need to see what both parts look like here and elsewhere your score doesn’t include both parts.

Another spot that Postma suggests extra practice between the two harps is in Scene 8, three bars after A. “I would suggest to practice solid chords before playing all the notes. It does not sound nice if not perfectly together.”

Postma recommends not splitting the parts at the end of the scene at rehearsal D. “Both harps should play all of it, otherwise it sounds as if you have one leg shorter than the other. The original version is like that, and then harpists changed it so it would be easier pedaling.”

Natalia Shamayeva has had decades of experience playing the Nutcracker with two harps, as the Bolshoi Ballet’s principal harpist. “We play almost the whole ballet exactly according to the score, and we play it with two harps.”

So if you are lucky enough to have a pair of harpists in the pit, here are the edits the Bolshoi harpists take:

At the end of Scene 6, divide the notes between two harps. At the end of Scene 8 do not divide, except the last two bars where the principal harp plays chords and the second plays arpeggios. In Scene 9, bar 36, have both harps play the upper line.

In Act II at letter A, have the left hand play two chords instead of arpeggios and on the fourth eighth note begin to play straight arpeggios down: G-F-D-B in the right hand, A-F-D-B in the left hand, three starting from G, three starting from B, three starting from C, etc. At rehearsal C play enharmonics. At the end of Scene 11 before the Allegro Agitato, play the left hand with intervals of a second and a third (two notes together, not one by one, as written).

In No. 15 at the third bar of letter F, play octaves together, not one by one: second-octave D in the right hand and third-octave D in the left hand, then third-octave D in the right hand and fourth-octave D in the left hand, etc. In the last scene at K, divide the notes between two harps, with principal playing the upper line and second playing the lower line.

John Carrington plays with Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB), which averages 40 performances each season. “We have used two harps for special anniversary weekends of our production (we just retired the Maurice Sendak/Kent Stowell production after 32 years), and also for our CD recording,” Carrington says. “I always receive compliments from my orchestra colleagues of how rich and lush it sounds with the original two harp parts. Also how much more sense the harmonies make with both harps filling in the complete part. Alas, the budget folks don’t always see it from our perspective and playing Nutcracker with one harp is usually the norm rather than the exception.” •