Carmen-Suite (Based On Themes Of Georges Bizet) / The Little Humpbacked Horse (Suite From The Ballet)

The Carmen Suite was composed by Rodion Shchedrin in 1967 as a transcription of Georges Bizet's opera for his wife, the legendary ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. Commissioned to provide a score for a new ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre, Shchedrin reimagined the original themes through the lens of a string orchestra and a massive percussion section. This bold, modern arrangement faced significant initial resistance from the Soviet cultural establishment, which initially labeled it an insult to the original opera, though it eventually became one of the most performed and celebrated works in the repertoire of the Bolshoi.

The coupling with The Little Humpbacked Horse represents another hallmark of Shchedrin's work as a ballet composer. Composed in 1955, the suite draws from his full-length ballet based on the classic Russian fairy tale by Pyotr Yershov. This 2009 Melodiya release gathers these quintessential recordings under the baton of conductors Gennadi Rozhdestvensky and Algis Žiūraitis. The production serves as a testament to the Soviet-era tradition of the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, preserving the technical precision and dramatic flair that defined these mid-century orchestral interpretations.