It has been noted that with Prokofiev's sole operatic success the original Russian is perhaps less vital than with most of his operas, and in many ways the very best way to experience the work is in the vernacular. Well, now here's the chance for English speakers to prove that pudding.
Prokofiev's sense of humour (or rather Carlo Gozzi's, filtered through adapter-producer Vsevolod Meyerhold and colleagues to Prokofiev, who then wrote his own libretto) has kept something of its edge, thanks to its mixture of mild cruelty and pantomime sauciness – it is the sight of Fata Morgana accidentally showing her knickers that cures the Prince of his melancholic hypochondria and draws upon him the curse of loving three oranges. Tom Stoppard's translation comes nicely off the page and seems relatively congenial to the voices.
Hickox and his Australians have a ball throughout, and the recording somehow captures all the sparkiness of live performance without the usual excessive dryness of an opera-house acoustic.
Crucially, the chorus and orchestra sound as fully engaged as the soloists themselves. All we lack is the additional fun of the curtain calls, which – authenticity or otherwise – extend an all but irresistible invitation to reuse the famous March. Without that the ending inevitably feels a bit of a let-down.
In a sense the serious collector has to have Gergiev for the original Russian text (Phlips, not currently listed) but also Nagano's (in French), because Prokofiev was involved in the French adaptation of the text which featured in the first performances. But for the most instant enjoyment, the new issue will surely score highest for native English speakers. The Chandos documentation is fine, though why it has bothered to print the French text alongside the English is a mystery.