This orchestral arrangement of Chopin’s piano music was one of a pair commissioned from Stravinsky by Diaghilev as part of Les Sylphides for performances by the Ballets Russes at the spectacular first saison russe of opera and ballet at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, 1909. This was the first collaboration between the young Russian composer and the formidable impresario. The Nocturne in A flat and Grande valse brillante revealed Stravinsky’s talent for transcription and orchestration and could fit happily into a programme of ballet music.