Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 1, L'Arlésienne Suite No. 1 & Symphony in C Major

Featuring

Volker Hartung
Junge Philharmonie Köln
Georges Bizet

Did you know?

1/7

Composition History

Bizet's Symphony in C major, written at age 17 as a student assignment, was not performed until 1935 after its score was discovered in the Paris Conservatory Library.

Composer Biography

Franz Liszt, a renowned composer and pianist, declared Bizet one of the most distinguished pianists in Europe after hearing him play an unpublished complex work error-free from sheet music.

Cultural Impact

Bizet's music has been used for several important 20th-century ballets, including Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin's Carmen Suite and George Balanchine's choreography of the Symphony in C.

Performer Biography

Volker Hartung, the conductor of the Cologne New Philharmonic Orchestra, studied viola at the Juilliard School of Music and later conducting with Sergiu Celibidache.

Recording & Production

The Cologne New Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1972, is composed of gifted young graduates from German Rhineland Conservatories who seek practical musical experience before their professional careers.

Composer Biography

Georges Bizet, a French Romantic composer, was born Alexandre-César-Léopold Bizet but was baptized Georges Bizet in 1840.

Critical Reception

Bizet's opera Carmen, now one of the most famous works in operatic literature, was not initially accepted by audiences and received negative press at its premiere.