A Romeo and Juliet sandwich: that’s how the RSNO’s principal guest conductor Elim Chan described their Valentine’s offering, bookended as it was by two Russian composers’ responses to Shakespeare’s great romantic tragedy. An excess of passion and schmaltz? Not at all – if anything, contrasting Tchaikovsky’s voluptuous “fantasy overture” with selections from Prokofiev’s arch, sometimes grotesque Soviet ballet music provided fascinating perspectives on Russia’s fascination with the Bard.
