In Volume 3 of
Boris Berman's series of recordings dedicated to the complete piano music of
Prokofiev, there are three works: a sonata from 1913, a suite of transcriptions from 1931, and a suite for children from 1935. Despite this seeming disparity, there is a common mood that runs through the program, a mood of quietly lyrical melancholy at once ineffable, enigmatic, and immensely moving.
Berman's performance of
Prokofiev's Fourth Sonata in C minor starts darkly morose and closes nervously ebullient.
Berman's performance of Music for Children is funny, tender, and full of nostalgia and his performance of the transcriptions is witty and brilliant and, at its best in the three movements from The Prodigal Son, deeply affecting.
Berman's playing is lightly powerful, gracefully muscular, and technically impeccable. Chandos' 1991 digital piano sound is warmer and less imposing than its 1991 orchestral sound, but just as physically present.