Valery Gergiev’s work certainly deserves to be represented in the ranks of the “Philips 50”, but I can’t help but wonder if this was the right recording to have chosen. He’s at his best as an opera conductor, though his recent Stravinsky Firebird, as well as his Tchaikovsky Nutcracker and Pathétique Symphony, have been excellent as well. There’s certainly nothing wrong with his conducting of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet–indeed, Gergiev has earned a fine reputation as a Prokofiev specialist. Still, in 1991 the orchestra wasn’t quite as good as it is now, certainly not the equal of Ozawa’s Boston Symphony (DG) or Maazel’s Cleveland Orchestra (Decca), and remastering hasn’t removed the recording’s slightly claustrophobic, boxed-in character. Brass playing, horns in particular, often sounds a bit rough (check out the ballet’s two closing numbers), while the strings lack the necessary weight to ride the heavily scored accompaniment of the Knight’s Dance and other similar passages. There’s still plenty to enjoy here, and were it not for the availability of such distinguished challengers, I could recommend this without hesitation. But that’s life in the classical music biz! This is good, but why settle for merely “good” when you can have “great”?
