Visions fugitives

During the revolutionary months of 1917, Prokofieff protected himself from the world and composed prolifically. This was the time when he wrote the evergreen Classical Symphony, and this cycle of haunting piano miniatures, which Prokofieff himself called in Russian Things that fly past. Each short movement is highly distinctive, painted in brightly contrasted colours and in a way that cries out for orchestral interpretation. In taking up that challenge and making this new version, the late Walter Susskind, a conductor renowned for the range and depth of his experience of different orchestral idioms, created a fine and unusual addition to the repertoire.

Note by Gerard McBurney