Leader, Harold Fairhurst
Conductor, Richard Austin
Solo violin, Szigeti from the Pavilion, Bournemouth (Soloist, SZIGETI)
Bizet's Symphony No. 1, in C, appears to have been entirely forgotten until February, 1935, when its first performance was given at Basle by Felix Weingartner. It was probably composed during the time that Bizet was studying under Halevy. Bizet was then about fifteen years of age. The manuscript is preserved in the library of the Paris Conservatoire. Its four movements are designed on the lines of a classical symphony, and although the composer uses the idiom of his period, there is a striking individuality about the treatment, particularly as regards the orchestration, which is highly original and piquant in the French style.