Debussy’s Petite Suite was published in its original piano four-hands version in 1889, and transcriptions for solo piano and for violin and piano appeared in 1906. What catapulted it to true popularity, however, was its 1907 adaptation for chamber orchestra by Henri Büsser (1872-1973).
Throughout his long life of 101 years, Büsser played an important supporting role in French musical life, remaining sharp and involved to the very end. As a youngster he had studied organ with César Franck and composition with Gounod, Massenet, and Guiraud. In 1905 he was named chief conductor of the Paris Opéra, and in 1939 he became director of the Opéra-Comique.
Büsser twice recorded his orchestral version of Debussy’s Petite Suite: in 1931 with the Orchestre Straram and in 1952 with the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française.
Here is Debussy’s Petite Suite as layed by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra:
