This 2008 live recording with the London Symphony Orchestra is Valery Gergiev's second complete recording of Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet, the first being a 1991 Philips release with the Kirov Orchestra. This performance, like his first, is notable for its refinement and lyricism. It's perhaps surprising that Gergiev, known for the wildness and ferocity of his performances of other Prokofiev works, like The Fiery Angel, shows such restraint here. Gergiev clearly understands the ballet as a work in which Prokofiev, ...
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This 2008 live recording with the London Symphony Orchestra is Valery Gergiev's second complete recording of Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet, the first being a 1991 Philips release with the Kirov Orchestra. This performance, like his first, is notable for its refinement and lyricism. It's perhaps surprising that Gergiev, known for the wildness and ferocity of his performances of other Prokofiev works, like The Fiery Angel, shows such restraint here. Gergiev clearly understands the ballet as a work in which Prokofiev, writing originally for the Bolshoi, a theater known for its conservatism (although that production was canceled), tailored his score to follow in the tradition of the three great Tchaikovsky ballets. The composer certainly cuts loose when appropriate, as in the fierce Introduction to Act III and the various fights, but the score is exceptional in its delicacy and finely calibrated orchestration. Because it is a "numbers" ballet, made up of a series of discrete movements or sections,...
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