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Serge Prokofieff

Romeo and Juliet Suite

  • Montagues And Capulets
  • Juliet The Young Girl
  • Madrigal
  • Minuet
  • Masks
  • Romeo And Juliet (Balcony Scene)
  • Death Of Tybalt
  • Friar Laurence
  • Romeo And Juliet Before Parting
  • Romeo At Juliet's Tomb
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Riccardo Muti
Recorded Live in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, Chicago on October 3, 5, 8 & 11, 2013
CSO Resound CSOR9011402 DDD 48:52
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This disc features live performances of excerpts from the first two suites that Prokofiev derived from his 1935 ballet Romeo and Juliet. Five numbers are taken from Suite #1 and five from #2, and their order has been changed to accurately reflect the chronology of events in the ballet. Thus, after the Montagues and Capulets and Juliet the Young Girl, there are five consecutive numbers (#3-7) taken from Suite #1. Then #3, 5 & 7 from Suite #2 are played. It's an intelligently assembled program then whose only possible drawback is the slightly meager timing.

Muti takes a rather Romantic and epic approach to the music: thus the opening march in the Montagues and Capulet is big and powerful with fairly deliberate pacing. Romeo and Juliet (Balcony Scene) is also expansive, but full of passion, with strings soaring to the heavens in the big love theme. You could not milk this music for its sheer beauty more than Muti does here. Friar Laurence is also played with a similar approach, though here the emphasis is less on passion and more on the gorgeous melody line, cellos leading the way with such lovely playing in the beautiful middle section. The tragedy in the closing number, Romeo at Juliet's Tomb, comes through with heartrending sorrow, the strings seeming almost to cry, while the low brass darkly resound their theme of stark loss. The return of the love theme, one of the most powerful moments in the score, is delivered with such caressing loveliness, only to yield to the crushing and fatalistic brass. This is music-making of the highest order. The livelier and lighter sections like Juliet the Young Girl and Masks are played at moderate tempos but come across with elegance and utter joy.

The whole disc is a joy, really: it's a paradox though – you rarely feel so good listening to what is ultimately one of the saddest and most tragic scores. The playing by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is brilliant throughout and Muti's grasp of the score, as you've probably gathered from the comments above, is masterful. The sound reproduction is vivid and powerful and the audience is perfectly quiet throughout. In addition, there are very informative album notes by Chicago Symphony program annotator Phillip Huscher.

There have been dozens of other discs of Romeo and Juliet excerpts over the years featuring excellent readings by conductors such as Mitropoulos, Munch, Ancerl, Rostropovich, Neeme Jarvi, Abbado, Florian Krumpöck and Muti himself in 1982 with his old ensemble, the Philadelphia Orchestra. This new one by Muti features performances that are outstanding, certainly competitive with the best.

Copyright © 2014, Robert Cummings

Trumpet

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