SERGEY PROKOFIEV

The versatile composer and pianist Sergey Prokofiev (1891–1953) is among the most significant and individual figures in twentieth-century Russian music. Best known for the ballet Romeo and Juliet and his work for children, Peter and the Wolf, Prokofiev wrote primarily for the stage and also contributed notably to the genres of symphony and concerto. The pressure from Soviet authority, following his return to Russia after years abroad, stimulated as much as it limited his creativity, leading ultimately to the denunciation of his music in 1948 as ‘formalistic’. This revealing and comprehensive biography examines Prokofiev’s works – wild, brilliant, lyrical, sometimes unashamedly over-the-top – as inseparable from the political background to their composition.