Composer
Sergei Prokofiev
A modernist edge softened by a genuine gift for melody and storytelling.
Sergei Prokofiev combined the harmonic bite and rhythmic drive of Modernist composers like Stravinsky with a melodic clarity that kept his music accessible even at its most dissonant — a balance that let him write both serious concert works and some of the most beloved music ever aimed specifically at children.
His ballet Romeo and Juliet is a staple of the dance repertoire, its "Dance of the Knights" among the most recognizable pieces of 20th-century orchestral music. Peter and the Wolf, a narrated children's piece, assigns each character a specific instrument — the bird a flute, the duck an oboe, the cat a clarinet, the wolf three horns — making it one of the most direct, effective introductions to the orchestra ever written.
Prokofiev spent years abroad before returning to the Soviet Union in the 1930s, where he, like Shostakovich, had to navigate the tension between his own artistic instincts and the state's expectations for Soviet composers.
Where to start listening: Peter and the Wolf is a genuinely excellent entry point at any age; "Dance of the Knights" from Romeo and Juliet shows his more dramatic orchestral writing.