Readers following Boris Berman's traversal of Prokofiev's complete piano music on Chandos will hardly need recommendation from me to acquire these latest volumes—Berman's survey, as RL rightly pointed out in his August ''Quarterly Retrospect'', is proving to be the most generally satisfying set so far and Volumes 5 and 6 are no exception. His account of the youthful, romantic First Sonata (Vol. 5) is certainly the finest I've heard on disc to date, being more impetuous and exciting than John Lill's rather careful, straitlaced account on ASV, and more sharply characterized and coloured than either Murray McLachlan (Olympia) or Matti Raekallio (Ondine). Prokofiev's genius however is not purely confined to the nine sonatas, and as Berman has so persuasively revealed in the earlier issues there are plenty of riches to be discovered in the many shorter pieces and transcriptions. The two, often overlooked, Sonatinas of 1931-32 are a case in point, revealing a much leaner, economical side to Prokofiev's piano writing. Here Berman, even more so than Lill (ASV), gives some particularly fine and well characterized performances, strongly projected and yet always attentive to the more introspective, personal aspects of these pieces.
Throughout the previous volumes Berman has put a consistently strong case forward for the various transcriptions that make up a not unsubstantial part of Prokofiev's piano output, and the Three Pieces Op. 96 (two items from the film music to Lermontov and one from the opera War and Peace) and the Gavotte from Hamlet Op. 77 on this disc once again provide evidence of his particular affinity with this aspect of Prokofiev's art. Berman's success, apart from the technical mastery with which he despatches them, is his ability to make these pieces sound as right on the piano as they do in their orchestral counterparts. The Four Pieces Op. 4 date from the same time as the First Sonata, but unlike the latter reveal a far more original and innovative voice emerging. The fourth of these, the wild and fantastic ''Suggestion diabolique'', is an exhilarating tour de force that not only provides a superb vehicle for Berman's formidable talent but also brings this immensely enjoyable volume to a hair-raising conclusion.
The Sixth Volume of Berman's survey has plenty of riches to offer too, with his beautifully characterized and deftly judged performances of the Ten Pieces Op. 12 and the Three Pieces from Cinderella, Op. 95 deserving particular mention. Rhythmic acuity is a vital ingredient for success in these pieces, and as Berman has proved so often before he can certainly deliver that. I have previously dismissed Pensees (''Thoughts'') as a rather weak piece in Prokofiev's piano output—their aimless, rather obtuse harmonic sound world seems strangely out of place at times—but Berman's probing and sympathetic account, whilst not completely converting me, has certainly mellowed my opinion to these curious little excursions. The Third Sonata receives an exceptionally fine performance too, though I have to say that my preference here remains with Lill on ASV who, although admittedly not as flamboyantly virtuosic as Gavrilov (DG) in the outer sections, makes a far more convincing case for the reflective central episode. Berman is slightly less flamboyant than either Lill or Gavrilov, and although he makes marginally more of the middle section than Gavrilov he still misses something of its lyrical potential.
The sound in both volumes, as we have come to expect from Chandos's piano recordings, is natural and well balanced.'