Customer Reviews

Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet - Scenes from the Ballet

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This relatively new release from BMG/RCA is a CD that you simply MUST buy. Run, don't walk, to the order button here at Amazon.com and buy this one! The packaging is bit over the top, I'll grant you that, but this is one serious release of one of Prokofiev's most beloved scores. Instead of playing an amalgomation of one or both of the suites which Prokofiev extracted from the complete score, MTT has created his own 'suite' from scratch. Many scenes from the ballet which are not included in the two original suites are heard here - and to great effect - one more reason to buy. The recorded sound is nothing less than spectacular. There is amazing detail and sonic placement on the aural soundstage. Last, and certainly not least, is the beyond world-class playing of the San Francisco Symphony and the superb musical leadership of Michael Tilson Thomas. This orchestra (in case you haven't heard them lately) is the envy of any city in the world (yes even Berlin and Vienna, in certain repertoire). The brass are bold and incisive, with an especially powerful (yet tasteful) low brass section. The strings are incandescent in the Death of Juliet, and swashbuckling and fleet in the Death of Tybalt. This all adds up to a recording which can't be missed, and shouldn't be passed up.

At 78 min., this is much more generous than other collections that pair Prokofiev's two Suites from Romeo and Juliet. The angry reviewer below is mistaken to accuse Tilson Thomas of composing any transitions of his own devising--he only placed portions of the ballet in dramatic sequence (Prokofiev's suites are in no particular order). This was MTT's first recording with RCA as music director in San Francisco, and when it was released in 1996, the U.S. reviews were rapturous.

Not so the British. The Gramophone grumbled about 'slick efficiency' and 'stickiness.' I think that's not true. The only problems that keep this recording from the highest rank, as far as my ears tell me, are first, the recorded sound. Though wide-ranging and dynamic, the original release tended to be coarse and thuddy (I don't own the reissue at mid-price, but perhaps something has been done to correct this).

The second and more important reservation isn't MTT's fault. Great conductors have already preceded him. Ancerl, Mravinsky, and Mitropoulos are among the old maestros who made outstanding versions of excerpts from the ballet. Among moderns we have had sonic blockbusters from Salonen and Abbado, both of whom dig into the score as MTT does not, and both of whom benefit from the astounding viruosity of the Berlin Phil. As for the complete ballet, versions by Lorin Maazel with the Cleveland Orch. on Decca and Gergiev with the Kirov Orch. on Philips stand out. MTT has a lighter touch than all of the above, which isn't necessarily a bad thing--his avoidance of shmaltz is admirable to me.

In fact, there are stretches here that sound just as good as the best. I can see why other listeners give this recording five stars; in light of so many great ones, I settled for four.

I was so thrilled to find a more complete recording of Romeo & Juliet; I wanted more than the usual Suite. The selections are perfect -- comprehensive & varied. Young Juliet, Young Romeo, and Nurse are real Prokofiev treats, and the Danse with Mandolins is just wonderful. Interpretation is flawless. The sweeping waves of the final love scene move me every time -- thank you gorgeous trombones! Thank you Mr. Thomas!

Michael Tilson Thomas is truly one of the great living conductors. The things he has been doing with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra for a decade now have been wonderful. This is one of the conductor's earliest collaborations with RCA Victor in selections from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. Although other reviews have summed up most of my feelings on this CD, I do just want to emphasize MTT's musical vision in creating his own suite. The performance is incisive, dramatic, forceful, and thoroughly pleasing. As always, the SFSO plays with totally conviction and total faith in their music director. As one of the leading Russian experts of today, MTT has created here a fantastic disc.

There have been many recordings of excerpts from "Romeo and Juliet," usually taken from the orchestral suites that Prokofiev himself prepared for concert performances. The composer even conducted the Moscow Philharmonic in a 1938 recording of the second suite from this ballet. Prokofiev had indeed spent many years on the score and, like other Soviet composers, had to contend with the shifting moods of Josef Stalin and his comrades. Yet Prokofiev produced a masterpiece and, even in small excerpts, it is apparent that he composed some of his loveliest, most sensitive melodies, as well as some very turbulent sections depicting that fighting and feuding between the Montagues and the Capulets. More than any composer he managed to capture the full story of "Romeo and Juliet" in a wordless orchestral work that still amazes us today.

Michael Tilson Thomas, in his debut recording with the San Francisco Symphony for RCA Victor, has taken the "best" of the massive score and managed to give us a better idea of what Prokofiev accomplished, without us having to listen to the full ballet score. This works better perhaps for simply listening, when one can't see the dances and pantomimes of the staged ballet. It is certainly more manageable, too, for listening.

The orchestra plays wonderfully throughout the recording, displaying the greatest maturity ever witnessed in the orchestra's history. Certainly, the San Francisco Symphony has come a long ways since its humble beginnings in 1911 under Henry Hadley in the Cort Theater.

The recording has the advantage of the now excellent acoustics of Louise Davies Symphony Hall, which has been its home since September 1980. There were initially some acoustical problems, which were finally resolved.

San Francisco is now said to have a "love affair" with Thomas, which actually goes back to 1974 when he guest-conducted the orchestra in a powerful performance of Mahler's ninth symphony, which this writer was privileged to see and hear in the War Memorial Opera House (home to the SFSO from 1932 to 1980). Thomas continues to give some great performances in San Francisco, judging from broadcast concerts and numerous recordings, including this one.

It's only unfortunate that RCA Victor has stopped making new classical recordings. The recordings with Thomas and the SFSO which were released show the highest standards in performance and actual recording. This was but the first in that series of memorable recorded performances.

I'll try to be more brief than I was with my last review of Mahler 1, but there are so many things to write about! I'll sum it up: Power, beauty, intense emotion and involvement in the music, and the most tastefully dramatic R+J recording out there. The strings are tight at the prestos, the woodwinds dance right of the CD, the interchanging trumpet and clarinet lines in the Dance of the Madalins are seemless, the horns are impossibly big and bold, bolder than the horns of the old CSO days (which, to me seemed more crass than anything), and the low brass, with the fantastic three and Floydd Cooley play all their lines just right and with some flaming sword of power. MTT's baton stirs the savage beast yet again! This CD is one of my top 10 CDs I own in my Classical collection and I highly recommend it to condutors, performers, and those who are interested in classical music and those who use it as ambiance (though it will be hard not to listen to this work!)!

Don't be fooled when the CD says that these are special Romeo and Juliet excerpts "selected by Tilson Thomas". What is really means is that Tilson Thomas (in all of his ego glory) took the opportunity to newly compose lots of his own transitions, introductions and conclusions to this wonderful music of Prokofiev. Tilson Thomas obviously thinks he can do better than the original and that is a huge mistake. While there is indeed much of the original Prokofiev, it is obvious every time one of Tilson Thomas' sections comes in, as it brings the momentum to a screeching halt. These sections intrude on the enjoyment and ruin the entire experience.
Tilson Thomas should know better, but even if Tilson Thomas is to be allowed to do this, the CD should be honest enough to detail what is really on the CD.