REVIEW:

Dimitrij Kitajenko's Prokofiev symphonies with the Guerzenich Orchestra are reference recordings. The long out of print overall picture is now available again in a new design.

No other conductor has portrayed the symphonic material so vividly, has penetrated so deeply into the seven works. He can gain wonderfully lyrical moments from the works, for example in the Andante of the 7th Symphony, but the main characteristic of the music is its luminosity, which, as a result of an inner nuclear fusion, is also accompanied by violent turbulence and a lot of kinetic energy. Kitajenko brings all of this into Prokofiev's symphonies and thus occupies a special position in the range of interpretations. In comparison, other conductors often seem superficial despite the power they produce.

Kitajenko is not simply heated up by the energy of the music, he keeps a cool head and structures like no other conductor, always concerned with achieving the highest level of clear architecture and tonal transparency. The result is an unparalleled richness of sound in which Prokofiev's brilliant imagination is revealed to us like never before.

– Pizzicato