I must declare my colours and say immediately that Prokofiev's Fourth Symphony is not a piece I would take to a desert island with me—moreover, it wouldn't accompany me on a carefree weekend either! It is, in some ways, uneasily constructed using material from the ballet, The prodigal son. This is the revised version, which, as RL pointed out in his original review, adds some 14 minutes to the structure. Jarvi's is an eloquent performance and he secures excellent playing from the Scottish orchestra, both here and in the Classical Symphony, where the slow movement is gently lyrical and the finale attractively gay. The reverberant acoustics of the Scottish venue are less than ideally suited to the more abrasive moments of No. 4 (rather in the way the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam makes a score like Roussel's Bacchus et Ariane sound unpleasant by blurring the transients—I am speaking from experience of a live concert, sitting in the stalls). Some of the tuttis sound fierce, even ugly.
The Classical Symphony however is flattered, although not more so than in Schwarz's attractive chamber performance with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra on Delos, coupled with Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale suite—splendidly done—and, unexpectedly, Shostakovich's First Piano Concerto. But as a performance Karajan's DG version of the Classical is peerless. Solti's (Decca) is too brightly lit to give me much pleasure.'