Leader, J. Mouland Begbie
Conductor, GUY WARRACK
Debussy's ' Petite Suite ' was originally composed, about a dozen years before the ' Nocturnes ', as a duet for piano (four hands), the medium to which Schubert was so much attracted, and to which many composers after him have been drawn at least once in their career. It was, for instance, the original form of Ravel's popular Mother Goose' Suite, which be afterwards expanded into a ballet.
The ' Petite Suite' was first played by the composer with Jacques Durand , a son of his publisher who had been a fellow student with him. It was the latter who made the piano solo transcription which is in general use, but the orchestral version is the work ot Henri Busser , a prix de Rome of 1893, who is known as the composer of several operas and a ballet.