DESCRIPTION:
Bizet: Jeux d'Enfants - Suite, Op. 22
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Antal Dorati, conductor

Recorded September 17, 1937, on Gramophone Company 78-rpm matrices 2EA 5343 through 2EA 5346, in Abbey Road Studio No. 1, London, except Side 3, for which retakes were made on September 27, 1937, in Kingsway Hall, London. Issued in Great Britain in June, 1938, as HMV C 2940 and C 2941. In the USA the set appeared as Victor Musical Masterpiece set M-510 (records 12373 and 12374) late in 1938.

Bizet's "Jeux d'Enfants" was originally written as a set of twelve pieces for piano duet; the composer then orchestrated five of the movements (Trompette et Tambour, La Poupee, La Toupee, Petit Mari, and Le Bal, but re-titled Marche, Berceuse, Impromptu, Duo and Galop respectively) as his "Petite Suite." For this recording of the suite as used by the Ballet Russes, Dorati used Bizet's orchestrations from the "Petite Suite," and added orchestrations of five of the remaining seven pieces made by Pierre Kolpikoff.

The ten sections presented here are as follows:

1. L'Escarpolette (The Swing)
2. La Toupie (The Top) (at 1:51)
3. La Poupée (The Doll) (at 2:50)
4. Les Cheveaux de Bois (The Hobby-Horses) (at 4:54)
5. Le Volant (Battledore and Shuttlecock) (at 6:00)
6. Trompette et Tambour (Trumpet and Drum) (at 7:20)
7. Colin-Maillard (Blind Man's Bluff) (at 9:12)
8. Les Quatre Coins (Puss in the Corner) (at 11:05)
9. Petit Mari, Petit Femme (Little Husband, Little Wife) (at 13:13)
10. Le Bal (The Ball) (at 15:50)