Kirill Karabits - Prokofiev’s Symphonies: expressively judicious and sonically refined

Prokofiev's Fourth Symphony recycles material the composer had written for other purposes, in this case for the ballet The Prodigal Son.

He got a lot of flak about the recycling, but remained fond of the symphony and later expanded it, bulking out the compact original he wrote in Paris in 1930 into an altogether more Soviet form.

It’s the 1947 revision that Kirill Karabits offers here, partnered with the brooding, post-war Sixth Symphony that many commentators regard as Prokofiev’s finest.

There’s an admirable neutrality in Karabits’s approach, expressively judicious and sonically refined, embracing both optimism and darkness without ever going overboard.

Also included is a fascinating, brief symphonic movement Prokofiev wrote aged 11.

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