David Harbin: >Could I please aks for recommendations of Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet >(need not be complete). I'd like stunning sound and playing with rich >bass and timpani, virtuoso conducting with some quicksilver tempi >when required and a sense of 'story' and emotion. That's all! The sound is a bit like an aircraft hangar, but on all other counts, you can't go past Karel Ancerl and the Czech Philharmonic's excerpts on Supraphon, recorded in 1959 and reissued a number of times. While I wouldn't be without Maazel's (on Decca) or Previn's (on EMI) complete versions, I still regret that Ancerl didn't do the whole ballet. What we do have is, IMO, a great recording of the century. Richard Pennycuick [log in to unmask]