Even though Prokofiev's Romeo et Juliette is the greater work -- the better composed, the more deeply moving, the more universally appealing -- Prokofiev's Cinderella is still wonderful. Although not as masterfully composed, there is an intensity to its concentration on a handful of themes and motives that makes it nearly as musically potent. Although not as deeply moving, there is a blissfulness to its apotheosis that makes it nearly as emotionally effective. And although not as universally appealing, there is a satisfaction to the consummation of true love that a love-death can never quite equal.
And although there have been many fine recordings of Cinderella over the years -- the Previn/LSO, the Ashkenazy/Cleveland -- the best has always been the Gennady Rozhdestvensky with the USSR Radio & TV Symphony Orchestra from 1966. Rozhdestvensky earned a reputation as a texturally sharp-edged conductor of the Soviet modernists, but nothing else he has done has the transfiguring sweetness and transcendent beauty of tone as this Cinderella. And nowhere else has he demonstrated his ability to let music dance with the gracefully passionate elegance he shows in Cinderella's waltzes. While the overly reverberant sound of the 1966 Melodiya recording has not been particularly improved for this CD reissue, Rozhdestvensky's performance is so sublime that the limited sonics soon cease to matter. A very great performance.