Sergei Prokofiev was born in Sontsovka, Russia (today, Sontsivka, Ukraine), on April 23, 1891, and died in Moscow, Russia, on March 5, 1953. The first performance of the Symphony No. 5 took place at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory on January 13, 1945, with the composer conducting the USSR State Symphony Orchestra. The Symphony No. 5 is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, triangle, tambourine, wood block, tam-tam, cymbals, suspended cymbal, bass drum, harp, piano, and strings. Approximate performance time is forty-six minutes.

Sergei Prokofiev offered the following comments on the work that is generally regarded as his symphonic masterpiece:

In the summer of 1944 I wrote my Fifth Symphony, to which I attach great importance—firstly because with this work I returned to the genre of the symphony after a break of 16 years. The Fifth, which I conceived as a symphony of the greatness of the human spirit, a song of praise of free and happy mankind, may be said to conclude an entire creative period.

The first performance of Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony took place on January 13, 1945, at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. It was a time of great hope in Soviet Russia—the end of the lengthy, horrific world conflict was finally in view. When Prokofiev ascended the podium to conduct his Fifth Symphony, artillery fire from Soviet cannons sounded from outside the concert hall. The cannon fire was a tribute to the Red Army’s crossing of the Vistula on their way into Germany.

The premiere of the Fifth Symphony, a magnificent triumph for Prokofiev, was his final appearance as a conductor. A few days after the concert, Prokofiev became dizzy, the result of hypertension. Prokofiev fell and suffered a brain concussion. Although he lived another eight years, Prokofiev’s health would never be the same. With those events in mind, the optimism expressed in the Prokofiev Fifth—“a symphony of the greatness of the human spirit, a song of praise of free and happy mankind”—perhaps becomes all the more poignant.

The Fifth Symphony is in four movements. The first (Andante), featuring the introduction, development, and recapitulation of thematic material, opens and closes with a theme first presented by the flutes and bassoon. The second movement (Allegro marcato), in contrast to the first, is a playful scherzo. The slow-tempo third movement (Adagio) builds to a sustained, violent outburst before finally yielding to the tranquil closing measures. The finale (Allegro giocoso) opens with a subdued introductory passage. But the violas soon launch the energetic principal portion of the finale, which resolves to a conclusion of irrepressible animation and vigor.

program notes by Ken Meltzer