So I'm listening to some fierce piano playing of something called "Portrait of Madama Butterfly: Opera without words" by Jean-Yves Thibaudet. These must be his own transcriptions, right? Wow!
I have this somewhere. I think it's an arrangement by Yvar Mikhashoff. The first opera transcription cd which Thibaudet did (c. 1988?) is well worth getting hold of, imo - some very fine playing. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Liszt-Opera-Tra ... B00000421C
Thibaudet is wonderful. Heard him at Tanglewood this summer playing a lot of effortless-sounding Ravel.