In my first review I welcomed this as ''an almost unqualified success … one of the finest records Previn has made in recent years''. Prokofiev strikes a particularly sympathetic chord in this conductor; indeed, he has as strong a natural affinity with him, as he has with Walton and Shostakovich, though neither his Sixth (5/88—nla) nor Seventh (4/91) came off as successfully. Since then there have been several versions of this coupling: the Karajan has been restored as has Bernstein's New York account, and among new versions we have had Dutoit (Decca, 7/89)—one of the most incisive of the newcomers, Slatkin (RCA, 3/93), Tilson Thomas (Sony, 3/93) and Rattle (EMI, 6/93) though he offers the Scythian Suite instead of the Classical Symphony. But these are at full price.
Turning to the mid-price field the Karajan is the most perfectly proportioned and sumptuous account, though artistically it still takes second place to the Koussevitzky, which RCA will, I trust, reissue soon. All the same, neither the Karajan nor the Bernstein, a high-voltage account, is recorded with the same clarity and presence as the Previn version. Even after seven years this can take its place high among the very best. '