Rmac58,
Your post makes me wonder how old you are. No, I'm not expecting you to say, but I wonder because when I was first starting out listening to classical music, I always found Prokofiev's music to be shallow and empty. At first. In time, I got to where I would just ignore my first impressions of each piece, because I knew I'd get to the point where I would enjoy it immensely. (Eventually that changed to liking pieces at first hearing. Don't know why first--and sometimes second and third and fourth--hearings were so unrewarding. Some glitch in my listening, I concluded.)
In short, don't give up on Prokofiev, or should I say "don't give up on yourself"?
I'll be 50 this year, and have been enjoying classical music for twenty of those. Initially as a break from commercial radio, rock and roll.
The local public station has helped quite a bit by some of their shows, Adventures in good music with Carl Haas, comes to mind.
I don't delve into much dissection, just enjoy the fruits of composers.
I have hundreds of cd's, haven't made a
direct purchase in years. If anyone is familiar with Cedille Records out of Chicago, they have a program to have their releases sent to you when they come out, at a decent price. Every now and again I get a cd in the mail. I have every recording they have produced, just received #103 a week ago.
I heard Three Oranges in the car, and with a name like that, I was able to remember it! I'm a fan the Russian big four, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Shostakovich. But my taste certainly doesn't stop there. Heard some new Joan Tower, may look into that.
I understand the early recordings on Melodiya are, well, not that good. I do have a two cd set of Shostakovich on that label, has been remastered. Sounds just fine.
I also have some on Reference Recordings, and they have some sort of trick in their recording I like, pipe organ when I feel like rattling the walls!
Not a big fan of Liegti, but it's been years since I've listened, so who knows.