Prokofiev - 10 Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Op.75

[invictious]

What are your opinions on this set? I plan to learn the whole set!

I have been speaking around, and the there have been some debates in the order I should learn them. First view is that I should learn them in order, and the second view is that I should learn them in progressive order of difficulty. I prefer the latter. The former would make sense if it was the WHOLE of Romeo and Juliet that was being reduced, but since there is only a selection here, the benefits of understanding the progression and immersion would not be as important here. Perhaps someone can suggest an order for me, although I do have one in mind already.

I have heard some opinions saying that this set of pieces bears little musical value purely in terms of pianism since they are, after all, composed for the orchestra and they are purely 'reductions' for the piano and not say, injection of 'additional musical thoughts' à la Liszt's operatic/symphonic transcriptions. This seems absurd since the piano version of Petrushka is one of the most important works for the piano composed in the 20th century!

Anyway, they are a lovely set of pieces. I would recommend people who only learned Montagues and Capulets from the suite to explore the other pieces also!

[g_s_223]

I think Prokofiev knew what he was doing. He was a master pianist, as is demonstrated in his concertos. These aren't simple piano reductions done by a hack arranger. Listen to several recordings of course.