The Prince of the Pagodas, Op. 57 (complete ballet)

The first recording of The Prince of the Pagodas at the Royal Opera House, with Britten himself conducting.

The Prince of the Pagodas is Britten's only full-length ballet - a glittering score full of the oriental harmonies and instrumental colour of Balinese gamelan music. Britten composed a pageant of music whose wide range of moods gives rise to the greatest diversity of invention: it encompasses, among others, the tender, the fantastic, the sinister, the joyous, the satirical and the heroic. This authoritative recording was made shortly after the work was given its premiere at Covent Garden.