Born in 1844 in Pamplona, the city of the famous running of the bulls for the San Fermin festival, the Spanish violinist and composer Pablo Martin Melton Sarasate y Navascuez, better known as Pablo de Sarasate, made his public debut at the age of eight. At twelve entered the Paris Conservatory thanks to a scholarship kindly granted by Queen Isabel II of Spain, after he dazzled the court in Madrid with his talent. Five years later, he won first prize for violin at the Conservatory.
A virtuoso concert pianist
It was the beginning of a long and successful career as a concert pianist that took him all over Europe and the United States in an almost non-stop tour that lasted three decades. Possessing a delicate touch and a virtuosity without boasting, a good number of the most significant works of contemporary composers were dedicated to him — Lalo's Spanish Symphony, Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo capriccioso and Max Bruch's Concerto No. 2 are among them.
Sarasate, the composer
Pablo de Sarasate (1844 - 1908)
Pablo de Sarasate is the author of nearly 50 pieces for violin and orchestra (or violin and piano), which were part of his sought-after repertoire. Among the most popular are Aires Gitanos, from 1878, and the Carmen-Fantasie op. 25, composed in 1883 when the opera had already won the public's favor after its failed premiere in 1875.
As he had already done with Don Giovanni and La Forza del Destino, Sarasate thought it was time to make an arrangement for violin and orchestra of Bizet's work, which was gaining more and more followers day by day, although its author had died convinced of its failure.
Fantasia - Sections
Following, the opera pieces from which Sarasate built his Fantasia:
00 Preludio - intermission adaptation introducing Act IV (Aragonesa).
02:56 Habanera, from Act I.
05:36 From Act I, episode in which Carmen mocks the officer of the guard.
08:00 Seguidilla, from Act I.
09:53 Baile Gitano, from Act II.
The performance is by Hilary Hahn, accompanied by hr-Sinfonieorchester – Frankfurt Radio Symphony, conducted by Andrés Orozco.
