Okay, I don’t like Prokofiev that much, but this record was a revelation. The recording and the performance are superb, and the works are more interesting than I could have imagined. I almost never listen to this record, so it is good that I did now.
Prokofiev wrote the libretto for his opera during a trip in the US. He got commissioned for it, and it premiered 1921 in Chicago, conducted by the composer himself. It is based on an Italian fairy tale of the same name.
On this record however, is not the complete opera. It is the suite version Prokofiev wrote to appease the concert public. There is also a piano version. The wiki page mentions that the best known part of the opera is the third part: Marche. It is used as a leitmotiv for the FBI in films.