NEW TO YOUTUBE | David Popper's “Dance of the Elves” Featuring Cello and Clarinets

Cellist Anastasia Kobekina and clarinetist Nicolas Baldeyrou collaborated to create this arrangement of the virtuosic cello encore

In addition to being the cellist in the Budapest Quartet, David Popper was a composer during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work "Dance of the Elves" was published in 1881.

"I knew Nicolas Baldeyrou, the solo clarinetist of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, through his social media. He was producing many videos and I quickly became a fan of what he does," Kobekina told The Violin Channel. 

"One day he just wrote to me on Instagram asking whether I could imagine taking part in one of his video projects," she continued. "When we agreed on the Popper 'Dance of the Elves,' he made an arrangement and we put it all together."

"He said it took him around 30 hours, but to me, it sounds like quite an unbelievably short amount of time to edit it all together. It would be really amazing to perform it live once, but I'd have to negotiate it with the other 8 Nicolas!

"Now that concert life is slowly returning, I’m appreciating even more every single opportunity to share music," she reflected. "I felt so strongly the need to play for someone and this was one of my escapes during the time of the pandemic."

"I learned to appreciate now and be grateful for what I have at this moment."

In 2019, Kobekina was the Bronze medalist in the 16th International Tchaikovsky Competition in St. Petersburg. In 2015, she won the prestigious TONALi Competition in Hamburg and was loaned a 1743 Guadagnini cello which is featured in this recording.

DAVID POPPER | ELFENTANZ OP. 39 "DANCE OF THE ELVES" | ANASTASIA KOBEKINA & NICOLAS BALDEYROU | 2021