Ernest Guiraud

[Mark Thomas]

Guiraud (1837-1892) is a potentially interesting composer. Born in New Orleans, he moved to France when he was 15 and went on to compose an number of operas and, most famously, the recitatives for Bizet's Carmen and Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann. I've only ever heard two of his works - both orchestral - and I've just uploaded them here. The Symphonic Poem The Fantastic Hunt in particular strikes me as a strong and effective piece and I wonder if anyone has come across anything else by him, in particular any of the operas (which are listed in his Wikipedia entry)?

[Christopher]

His Caprice for Violin and Orchestra is a very attractive work, especially the second movement (Allegro Appassionata).  There is a version commercially available with Philippe Graffin on the violin with The Ulster Orchestra conducted by Thierry Fischer.