This 1990 Prokofiev Fifth probably is the most successful of the handful of recordings Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra made for Philips. Having already demonstrated their flair for Prokofiev in the Romeo & Juliet suites for EMI, Muti and the Philadelphians offer an impressive rendition of the symphony, with stunning playing throughout. The orchestra made an earlier recording with Ormandy, whose keen conducting yielded a somewhat more incisive reading, but Muti has the advantage of Philips’ modern recording, which presents the orchestra in full, spacious sound with wide dynamics (the tremendous close of the first movement and the grinding climax of the Adagio are powerfully reproduced). Muti and the orchestra also bring all of their virtuoso resources to bear on The Meeting of the Volga and the Don, an occasional work in the same state-sanctioned festive style that Shostakovich often turned to in his “public” pieces. If you missed this release the first time around, go to Arkivmusic.com and fetch a copy for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.
