There is a good case to be made for programming the 20 numbers from all three of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suites as here, in the order in which the pieces appear in the complete ballet. You get half the complete score, eliminating only the repetitive and semi-routine numbers that are of interest mainly as accompaniments to the onstage action, while to anyone who knows the bare outline of the story, the drama is compellingly sketched, with hardly a single movement that feels less than essential to it.

Andrew Litton is obviously in sympathy with this miraculous score, and he has coaxed playing of considerable warmth and character from his Bergen players. The strings are still light on tone by comparison with the major international bands, despite Litton’s obviously having encouraged them to punch above their weight, and he himself occasionally strays over the border from characterisation into point-making, as in “Montagues and Capulets”, which is no doubt aiming to be proud and virile but which at a fractionally too steady tempo comes across as a touch lethargic.

For a clean, modern account in good sound, this is nonetheless a recommendable proposition. For anyone wanting more expressive urgency – indeed a sense that this music is of more human significance than just a uniquely inspired ballet score – there is still Ancerl and Czech Philharmonic in 10 movements from the first two Suites, recorded nearly 50 years ago (Supraphon) but unrivalled for dash and communicative urgency.