This album was recorded at La Ferme de Villefavard in Limousin, France, a converted granary known for its exceptional acoustics designed by international acoustician Albert Yaying Xu.
Composition History
Bizet's Chants du Rhin, composed in 1865, is based on six poetic stanzas by Joseph Méry about the Rhine River and its inhabitants.
Compositional Technique
Bizet's Chromatic Variations, composed in 1868, features a dark, enigmatic theme built on ascending and descending chromatic scales, followed by 14 variations.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Bizet, the composer, created over a hundred transcriptions of works by other composers like Mozart, Gounod, and Saint-Saëns, as well as his own pieces.
Composer Biography
Bizet, the composer of this album's works, was a child prodigy who entered the Conservatoire at age nine and won prizes in piano, organ, fugue, and composition.
Composer Biography
Georges Bizet, though renowned as a virtuoso pianist, rarely performed in public, finding the performer's trade "odious."
