Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No.2 written in 1868, is distinguished by a variety of styles. The contrast between the classically constructed first movement and the finale, reminiscent of a tarantella, prompted an interesting observation, "He starts as Bach, and ends as Offenbach." In 1871, Georges Bizet, famous French composer (notably of the opera "Carmen"), created an arrangement for piano solo of this work at the request of the famous publishing house Durand. The result is an exuberant display of keyboard virtuosity and brilliance, brimming with French esprit and joie de vivre. The other works on this new recording are the Aria of Dalila “Mon Coeur s’ouvre à ta voix” arranged for piano solo by Boris Borodin, Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise from Eugene Onegin arranged for piano solo by Paul Pabst and Liszt’s Tchaikovsky Polonaise from Eugene Onegin. Born in Baku, Maria Stembolskaya started piano studies with her mother Natalia Zakharova at the Central Music School in Baku (Azerbaijan). She then studied in Moscow at the Academic College of Music with Galina Eguiazarova, and subsequently at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory under the direction of Prof. Elena Kuznetsova. From 1985 onwards, she has been awarded various national and international prizes, particularly First Prize at the "Pozzoli" international piano competition in 1993, the Samson François prize in 1998 and she won the "Busoni" international piano competition in 2003.