Marin Alsop’s Prokofiev Symphony cycle ends, fittingly, with a graceful and winning performance of the uncomplicated Seventh Symphony, featuring light textures, ear-catching woodwind detail in the second movement waltz, and an aptly chipper finale. Prokofiev’s revised ending is included, rather foolishly, all by itself after the rest of the symphony. Either you play the entire finale with the alternate conclusion, or just pick one and go with it. Never mind: it’s a fine interpretation in what shapes up to be yet another variable Prokofiev series whose lows (Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6) may turn out for many listeners to be more noteworthy than its highs (the rest).
The couplings are problematic. With only 55 minutes of music on the disc, there is absolutely no excuse not to include the complete Love for Three Oranges Suite. Here we get only the Scherzo and March–well enough performed to be sure, but the programming remains puzzling. Lieutenant Kijé suffers from an overly hasty account of the Romance, and engineering that’s notably bass-shy. This isn’t so much a problem in the symphony, but it takes some of Prokofiev’s intended grotesquerie away from the suite. At least the vocals aren’t included, thank God. Like the remaining performances in this cycle, then, this final release has its highs and lows, and leaves you wishing it had turned out just a bit better because, surely, it could have.
