Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet, Op. 64

Romeo and Juliet was the first ballet Prokofiev composed for performance in the Soviet Union, but it was eventually premiered in 1938 in Brno in the Czech Republic due to insurmountable complications, including complaints from some Bolshoi Ballet dancers that it was far too difficult. Despite these challenges, Prokofiev’s ballet is a supreme marriage of music and drama, each scene vivid in its plot depiction, from the famous, surging “Dance of the Knights” to one of the composer’s most searingly beautiful themes, his depiction of the star-crossed lovers’ burning passion for one another. This recording by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and its principal conductor Marin Alsop stands as one of the most characterful, bearing the hallmarks of Alsop’s great mentor Leonard Bernstein.