Episode 14: Prokofiev's Scenes from Romeo and Juliet

Following multiple failed agreements with various ballet companies (including the Bolshoi, which declared the music impossible to dance to), Sergei Prokofiev reduced what would eventually become his most popular ballet to three orchestral suites.  Romeo and Juliet “is a great lyrical symphonic epic, one in which Prokofiev used his unique gift for beautiful melody to give life to all the characters,” says Michael Tilson Thomas.  Prokofiev’s work  uses character and emotional motifs to capture the dramatic action in Shakespeare’s classic love story.