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Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet, Part 2 / Previn, LSO
Release Date: 01/26/2006
Label: Brilliant Classics Catalog #: 7980/2 Spars Code: ADD
Composer: Sergei Prokofiev
Conductor: André Previn
Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra
Number of Discs: 1
Recorded in: Stereo
Length: 1 Hours 14 Mins.
Works on This Recording
1. Romeo & Juliet, Part 2, Op. 64 by Sergei Prokofiev
Conductor: André Previn
Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1935-1936; Paris, France
Notes and Editorial Reviews
AllMusic Review by James Leonard [-]
These classic EMI recordings by André Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra of Prokofiev's two most popular ballet scores are aptly coupled in this 2006 Brilliant re-issue. When it was issued in 1973, Previn and the LSO's Romeo And Juliet was one of the first recording of every note of the complete ballet, but it proved not a note too long. With LSO's smooth lines, warm sonorities and strong colors, this Romeo is less balletic and more lyrical then most, and with Previn's masterful control of mass and motion, it is somewhat less dramatic but far more sensual, even voluptuous, then most. Even those who may prefer the more aggressively modernist Maazel -- Cleveland performance or the more grandly symphonic Gergiev -- Kirov performance will acknowledge the passionate conviction and consummate musicianship of the more overtly romantic Previn -- LSO performance. When it was issued in 1983, Previn and the LSO's Cinderella was one of several recordings of the complete ballet, but it was as accomplished, as effective and as moving as the best of them. Previn's hand is no less sure nor is his affection less for a fairy tale than for Shakespeare, and his conducting invests the music with great charm and marvelous enchantment. The LSO's virtuosity has not weakened nor have their brilliant colors faded, their boundless enthusiasm waned or their polished ensemble rusted, and their playing fulfills both the letter and the spirit of the score. EMI's late stereo sound is deeper and richer than their harder early digital sound and Brilliant re-issue re-creates both of them without apparent re-mastering.
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Try to tear yourself away from Act 1, Scene 1 of this classic recording, the most passionate of all full-length ballet scores. Just try it. In a word, André Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra are riveting. The intensity continues throughout this budget-priced two-CD set. Previn, his career as a film composer/conductor less than a decade behind him when this music was recorded in 1973, finds the maximum dramatic value of just about all of the ballet's 50-odd numbers. With the LSO in fine form and responding well to a conductor it had been working with for several years, this is a very welcome return to the active catalogue and can be recommended without hesitation.
But wait. In the very same month Lorin Maazel led the Cleveland Orchestra for Decca, and got results no less fine than Previn's. That recording also is currently available on a budget-priced two-disc set. If Previn gives priority to the drama of each moment, Maazel attends first to the symphonic structure of the score, which uses Wagner's technique of leading motives. By paying particular attention to the way these themes grow and interact as the tragedy gathers, Maazel ultimately reaches his discs' high point at the final scenes.
For example, all three sword-fights feature the same flurrying string figurations but ultimately go different ways depending on the outcomes of the duels. Previn's treatments achieve powerful results within particular scenes, but in Maazel's performance, each fight is more tense than the prior one until finally two deaths result. This outcome, which seals Romeo and Juliet's fate, is more telling under Maazel. At a more sublime level, Maazel's performance is superior in tracing the growth of Juliet, from carefree and girlish, through her realization of her womanhood, to her love and suicide.
If you want to get just one recording, here are the bottom-line distinctions between them: Previn's has more thrilling moments; Maazel's has the more unified artistic experience and better playing overall. Previn's sound is just a little fresher than Maazel's in this remastering. For me, it is the awesome playing of the Cleveland Orchestra, particularly in the brass, that marginally tips my preference to Maazel.
--Joseph Stevenson, ClassicsToday.com
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