Bizet: Nocturne No. 1 in F

Georges Bizet’s popular L’Arlésienne Suites are seldom heard in the composer’s own piano transcriptions. Indeed, his delightful compositions and arrangements for this instrument remain to be discovered by many listeners. Bizet was himself an accomplished pianist, whose solo piano works range across many different genres and styles from the Chopinesque lyricism of the Nocturnes and Chansons sans paroles to the virtuosic Caprices and Chasse fantastique and the highly dramatic Variations chromatiques. Julia Severus, who as a member of the Aurora Duo has released recordings of piano transcriptions of music by Tchaikovsky, Balakirev and Glazunov (8557717 and 8570418), here makes her solo recording début for the label.