I too really love this piece. I like to vary the rhythm in the left hand by switching octaves... it';s a lot of fun!

i know....i LOVE this song. We had a flute choir who did it REALLY fast...it was SO much fun

Surprisingly enough, I have the piano duet for "The Nutckracker" and I thought the tempo marking was a mistake!

It does sound fast, but interestingly, that's the composer's original marking - perhaps we've all got used to it being too slow!

One of my most favorite pieces from The Nutcracker. This sounded a bit too fast for me, though.