Many conductors create their own suites from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet; Paavo Järvi, however, seems content with the three official ones. There’s little question that Prokofiev’s own selections hit most of the ballet’s high points, though it must be said, too, that playing the suites in their published order ruins the narrative’s tragic trajectory. Still, the three suites do fill a CD to near-capacity, and one can always programme one’s player to restore some sense of theatrical logic. That’s worth the effort in this case, given that the performance is so finely characterised.

In ‘The Child Juliet,’ the Cincinnati strings speak articulately yet delicately despite Järvi’s very brisk tempo (faster even than Prokofiev’s metronome marking), and one is immediately made aware of the girl’s giddy, charming nature. ‘The Death of Tybalt’ also moves at a quite a clip, generating breathless excitement and the feeling that events are rushing inexorably toward calamity.

In general, however, Järvi is less overtly dramatic than his father, whose Chandos recording of the three suites sometimes seems heavy-handed. When Tybalt is slain, for example, Paavo refuses to indulge in a big (and unwritten) ritenuto. Played in tempo, the 15 hammering chords that follow sound not merely like death spasms or funereal drumbeats but like the ticking of some vast and fateful clock. The Balcony Scene (simply titled ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in the Suite No 1) similarly avoids exaggeration. On first hearing, the elder Järvi’s slow, elastic tempo seems to generate more heat. But by adhering more firmly to a flowing tempo, and by paying careful attention to the composer’s dynamic markings, Paavo is able to convey the sweet, fragile innocence of Romeo and Juliet’s love as well as its sweeping passion.

Having recorded in Cincinnati for some 15 years, Telarc knows how to find the Music Hall’s sweet spot. The sound here has naturalness as well as warmth and clarity, attributes which are enhanced in the SACD format.