BIZET-SEREBRIER: Carmen Symphony / BIZET: L'Arlesienne Suite

José Serebrier's Carmen Symphony consists of 12 movements and contains all of the music in the two suites plus some nifty additional music, such as the "The Wedding" from the opening of Act 4 and the sinister little Fugato from the end of Act 1. The music is much as Bizet left it, save that Serebrier has reallocated some of the voice parts to instruments closer in range to the characters that sing each respective number in the opera. For example, Carmen's Habañera goes to the alto saxophone, and Escamillo's big Toreador number features solo trombone. Both work quite well and would work even better were the soloists of the Spanish orchestra a bit higher-caliber. I do wish that Serebrier had cut down the annoying little march that, without the accompanying children's chorus, repeats itself endlessly; but the decision to end with the Gypsy Dance is a wise one, and it gets a brilliant performance here. The two L'arlésienne suites also have plenty of color and swagger, not to mention pr