If you don't know anything about
Sergey Prokofiev, this two-disc set from Naxos is the place to start. The choice of repertoire is excellent. From the very early Dreams through the very late Symphony-Concerto, every phase of the composer's career is represented. And from solo piano works like the Seventh Sonata's closing Precipitato through chamber works like the Andante of the First String Quartet and ballets like Cinderella's Grand Waltz to purely orchestral works like the Fifth Symphony's Allegro marcato, every aspect of the composer's output is represented -- albeit only in excerpts and with the conspicuous exception of his operas. The choice of performances, while necessarily limited to recordings made for Naxos, are also first-rate. Pianist
Kun Woo Paik is flashy yet solid in the excerpts from the First and Third piano concertos and violinist
Tedi Papavrami is brilliant but soulful in the excerpts from the First and Second violin concertos. But best of all are
Theodore Kuchar and the Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra in 10 of the selections, including excerpts from five of the composer's seven symphonies. And the nearly 100-page biography by Gregory Hart is as fine an introduction to
Prokofiev the man and the composer as there is in English.