Georges Bizet – Jeux d’enfants Orchestral Suite (Haitink)

Georges Bizet (25 October 1838 – 3 June 1875), registered at birth as Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer of the romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertoire.

Suite for Orchestra from “Jeux d’enfants” (1871, orch. 1880 by composer)

1. Marche (Trompette et tambour)
2. Berceuse (La poupée) 2:17
3. Impromptu (La toupie) 5:09
4. Duo (Petit mari, petite femme) 6:12
5. Galop (Le bal) 9:13

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink
rec. 1977

Jeux d’enfants (“Children’s Games”) Op. 22, is a suite of twelve miniatures for piano four hands, composed in 1871.

Bizet orchestrated five of these (Nos. 6, 3, 2, 11, 12) as the Petite Suite. The remaining movements were later orchestrated by Roy Douglas (5 numbers) and Hershy Kay (2 numbers) and the complete orchestral suite has been recorded as Jeux d’enfants. Bizet himself made an orchestral version of No. 8 which he did not include in the suite. It has been recorded by Michel Plasson.

Sigfrid Karg-Elert wrote his orchestral suite after Bizet’s Jeux d’enfants, Op. 21, in 1902.

In 1955, George Balanchine choreographed the entire suite as the ballet Jeux d’enfants. In 1975 he made a new ballet, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, using only four of the movements.

A version for woodwind quintet of the final movement, “Le Bal,” is the opening and closing theme music for the long-running syndicated Weekend Radio show, carried on many public radio stations.

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