Carmen Suite

Shchedrin made this arrangement in 1967 for his wife, the ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, after both Shostakovich and Khachaturian had declined the commission. It is scored for strings and percussion only — forty-seven percussion instruments, with the winds removed entirely. Bizet's melodies are recut and re-voiced with the percussion pushed to the front. The ballet was briefly banned in the Soviet Union after its premiere.