Here are five great works to get you into the music of the French Romantic composer Georges Bizet (1838-75), whom we named one of the best French composers of all time. Read on, then, as we bring you some of the best works by Bizet.
Best Bizet works
Symphony in C
Composed by Bizet when aged 17 and only rediscovered in 1935. Light and almost Schubertian in style, the slow movement includes a haunting oboe lament.
Recommended recording: Les Siècles/François Xavier Roth Mirare MIR 036
Songs
Bizet wrote his songs in the days before they had been elevated to ‘high art’, but they are unfailingly charming and include such classics as the sultry ‘Adieux de l’hôtesse arabe’.
Recommended recording: Ann Murray (mezzo-soprano), Graham Johnson (piano) Hyperion CDA 66976
Jeux d’enfants
Best-known in its orchestral guise, the two piano version gives a more complete collection of these affectionate vignettes of children at play. Great fun, and undoubtedly one of the best works by Bizet.
Recommended recording: Tamara Granat, Daniel Propper Dux 0739
L’Arlesienne
Bizet’s incidental music to Daudet’s stage play, The Girl From Arles, perfectly captures its Provence setting; his imaginative orchestration includes an early pre-jazz use of saxophone.
Recommended recording: Choeur de l’Opéra de Lyon; Les Musiciens du Louvre, Grenoble/Marc Minkowski Naïve V 5130
Carmen
Last in our list of best works by Bizet, and it's a zinger. Easily Bizet’s single most famous work, his deft characterisation and the sheer tunefulness of his opera sounds as fresh as ever. Bizet's Carmen is so accessible, melodic and captivating, we had no trouble naming it one of the best operas for beginners.
Recommended recording: Grace Bumbry, Jon Vickers; Orchestre de Paris/Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos Classics for Pleasure 367 6962
