Review: Warner's 36-CD Prokofiev Collector's Edition 

Interesting, but has anyone in Chandos thought of bringing together all the Neeme Jarvi Prokofiev orchestral music in one box? That should be a total bestseller, even better than this Warner Classics mishmash.

I finally splurged and I’m through all the ballet music in this box, just operas and Peter and the Wolf left! I realize there’s an ideal Prokofiev symphonies video and one on the 5th, but I’d love to see a symphony cycles box or more videos about the individual symphonies. I really liked hearing the pieces and would love to see other which boxes (other than Järvi) are worth exploring.

Thanks for that. I wish you'd do a video on Prokofiev's violin concertos.

I'm surprised there aren't more recordings of Peter & The Wolf without narration. I was only able to find one. It's true that there is a little repetition that could be cut out, but really it's a pleasure to be able to enjoy the music for itself, not as background for some celebrity voice artist.

I have two "complete": cycles of Prokofiev's piano works. Sandor on Vox which takes 5 discs and the Chiu on HM which takes 9 discs. The difference is Chiu has the TRANSCRIPTIONS. That is a lot of transcriptions. The HM box has a tenth disc of music for Violin and Orchestra with Pierre Amoyal.

Dave, my understanding is that the Violin Sonata #2 actually DID start out as a flute sonata. I particularly enjoy the time-honored edition by Rampal with octave displacements for more flattering range, stuff like that.

I’d have opted for Milstein violin concertos instead of the Perlman ones

Nice! I don’t know Prokofiev much…a nice intro. Thanks for covering….

Shame Warner presumably doesn't still have any rights on the Rozhdestvensky HMV/Melodiya recording of the complete Stone Flower ballet. Great stuff.

This is a very useful review for me. Your detailed review of the contents tells me that I already have quite a few of those same recordings in my collection and alternative versions of most other works (and sometimes possibly better e.g. Järvi vs Rostropovich in symphonies 2-6?). The one major addition to my collection would be War & Peace but I would need a libretto and translation. Are there any good DVD versions of this?

I'm sure that this is a great box. But I did want to put in a plug for the performances of the Prokofiev piano sonatas by Yefim Bronfman. I love those performances! While I am about this, have you considered videos on individual performers? Or have I missed something?

UGH I WANT A CHANDOS BOX

Thanks Dave! Seems like a mostly splendid box. It's odd to me that Prokofiev now lives in Shostakovich's shadow. I base this purely on quality of output, which admittedly seldom has much to do with changing public opinion. His reputation has unfairly receded IMO. It's especially strange to me because Shostakovich's style owes something to Prokofiev's. They are both undoubtedly great composers, although Shostakovich is more fashionable in the Western world. Aside from Shostakovich's more sympathetic personality, situation, etc. does it have something to do with the classical community's prejudice in favour of symphonies and string quartets as serious music? Shostakovich's great compositions are mostly in conventional "serious" forms. Although Prokofiev composed great symphonies, he generally did his best work in other forms and even his symphonies, bar a few, are not very symphonic. I was surprised these two weren't included in the composer duels video. I would have liked to hear the outcome. Any chance, Dave?

I do need to familiarize myself more with Prokofiev, but will probably pass on this box in spite of your recommendation: too much duplication, too many transcriptions, and too many "Peter and the Wolf"'s.