His way of phrasing and subtly manipulating the music’s ebb and flow – both in terms of rhythmic pacing and as regards the shading of dynamics – gives these well-known numbers a renewed dramatic impulse. The scenes spring vividly to life. The opening has a manly, striding menace; the romantic music for the two lovers floats ethereally and tenderly; the “Death of Tybalt” strikes its fatal blows with brutal finality.
The orchestra, with which Prokofiev was frequently associated, plays with a radiant spectrum of colour and with a refined balance of timbres and textures while understanding the sonorities that make Prokofiev’s orchestration at once so individual and so recognisable. This is an interpretation of outstanding presence.