Simon Callow Reads the Diaries

From student days at St Petersburg until 1933, just before he finally returned from the West to live out the remainder of his life in the Soviet Union, Prokofiev kept a uniquely revealing diary to which he confided his innermost thoughts. Anthony Phillips, translator of the diaries into English, has devised a programme in which readings from the diaries and other autobiographical writings throw light on what lies behind some of the music created by this complex genius. The London Philharmonic Orchestra performs under Vladimir Jurowski, with pianist Piers Lane, soprano Joan Rodgers, pianola player Rex Lawson and actor Simon Callow as Prokofiev.