The Giant (1900)
On Desert Islands (1900; unfinished)
A Feast in Time of Plague (1903, rev. 1908–09; unfinished)
Undina (1904–07)
Maddalena, Op. 13 (1911–13; unfinished)
The Love for Three Oranges, Op. 33 (1919)
The Fiery Angel, Op. 37 (1919–27)
Semyon Kotko, Op. 81 (1939)
Betrothal in a Monastery, Op. 86 (1940–41)
Khan Buzay (1942; unfinished)
The Story of a Real Man, Op. 117 (1947–48)
Distant Seas (1948; unfinished)
COMMENTS:
Maddelena: Early work. Sounds a bit like Love for Three Oranges in parts. It's very charming, but it didn't charm me right at first. (Come to think of it, very little Prokofiev ever charmed me at first. Some horrible glitch in my brain, I'm sure.)
The Gambler: Probably the least liked of his well-known operas. It's maybe a bit rough, a bit uneven. He's trying out new things in it, though. And that's always interesting. Maybe save this one for later.
Love for Three Oranges: This one is wild and unrestrained. It's the Le Grand Macabre of the early part of the century. Good, clean fun throughout. Plus there are a couple of excerpts from this that everyone has heard over and over again.
The Fiery Angel: Also maybe one to leave to the side for awhile. It's not ebullient or charming, but serious and obsessive and dark. Fiery dark. If you know the third symphony, you've already heard a lot of the music of this opera. I didn't find that that helped much, though. That might simply be because this was the first Prokofiev opera I bought (in an undistinguished performance and long before I was listening to any operas much).
Semyon Kotko: One of Prokofiev's finest works, I'd say. It's quite a powerful, passionate work. Don't be put off by the "Soviet" story line. The story is really about the people and their human responses to the events. But even if it weren't, the music is so glorious that the plot matters not one whit.
Betrothal in a Monastery: From just a year or two after Semyon Kotko, this one's another comedy. Not as extravagent a set up as for Love for Three Oranges, but scrumptious music throughout. I'd be tempted to call this one the most accessible.
War and Peace: This is a big, sprawling, wildly beautiful work. It's late enough in his career to be rather milder music, but it's still great stuff. If you can like the seventh symphony and Stone Flower, you won't have any trouble liking this one, either. And it's much much better than either of those two.
Story of a Real Man: Still waiting for a complete version of this to be recorded. By Gergiev. Not likely, as it's blatantly Soviet and quite late so quite um well decadent/melodic/lush. Still, it is Prokofiev, and even bad Prokofiev is pretty good.
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