Carmen-Suite = Кармен-Сюита

The Carmen Suite was originally conceived in 1967 as a ballet adaptation of Georges Bizet’s famous opera, commissioned by the ballerina Maya Plisetskaya and arranged by her husband, the composer Rodion Shchedrin. Shchedrin reimagined the operatic score for a string orchestra and a vast array of percussion instruments, stripping away the traditional vocal parts to focus on the raw, rhythmic energy of the music. The composition quickly became a staple of Soviet-era concert repertoire, praised for its innovative reinterpretation of familiar melodies.

This particular 1990 recording features the Moscow Virtuosi conducted by Vladimir Spivakov, released on the state-run Melodiya label toward the final years of the Soviet Union. By this time, the Moscow Virtuosi had gained an international reputation for technical precision, and this release served to document their performance of Shchedrin’s work during a period of significant cultural transition. The recording reflects the high standards of Melodiya's chamber music engineering, capturing the crisp, percussive interplay that defines this specific arrangement.