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Sergei Prokofiev wrote his Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 100, in Soviet Russia in one month^{[citation needed]} in the summer of 1944.[1]

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Symphony No. 5
by Sergei Prokofiev
Prokofiev, photographed in 1936 by Pierre Choumoff [fr]
Key	B-flat major
Opus	100
Composed	1944 (1944)
Duration	40 min
Movements	Four
Premiere
Date	January 13, 1945 (1945-01-13)
Location	Moscow Conservatory
Conductor	Prokofiev
Performers	USSR State Symphony Orchestra

Background

Fourteen years had passed since Prokofiev wrote the first version of his Symphony No. 4 in C major.[2]

World War II was still raging during the symphony's gestation, and Prokofiev composed it in the Soviet Union. He gave out in a statement at the time that he intended it as "a hymn to free and happy Man, to his mighty powers, his pure and noble spirit."[3] He added "I cannot say that I deliberately chose this theme. It was born in me and clamoured for expression. The music matured within me. It filled my soul."^{[citation needed]}

Movements

External audio
Performed by the Berlin Philharmonic under Seiji Ozawa
I. Andante
II. Allegro marcato
III. Adagio
IV. Allegro giocoso

The piece is in four movements, lasting 40–45 minutes:

1. Andante (in B-flat major)
2. Allegro marcato (in D minor)
3. Adagio (in F major)
4. Allegro giocoso (in B-flat major)^{[citation needed]}

Movement I

The first movement is in a tightly argued sonata form: its exposition presents two themes – one calm and sustained, the other soaring with tremolo accompaniment from strings – which are then involved in an elaborate and climactic development section. The movement is wrapped up with an electrifying coda, punctuated by a roaring tam-tam and low piano tremolos.^{[citation needed]}

1st theme, mm. 1–7

mm. 8–10

mm. 29–30

2nd theme, mm. 54–64

mm. 74–77

Closing theme, mm. 83–86

Movement II

The second movement is an insistent scherzo in Prokofiev's typical toccata mode, framing a central theme in triple time.

mm. 3–10

mm. 56–58

mm. 112–115

mm. 120–127

mm. 154–157

Movement III

The third movement is a dreamy slow movement, full of nostalgia, which nevertheless builds up to a tortured climax, before receding back to dreaminess.

mm. 4–8

mm. 55–62

mm. 82–84

"tortured climax" mm. 125–131

Movement IV

The finale starts with a cello choir playing a slow introduction containing elements from the first theme of the first movement, which then launches into the movement proper, a rondo. The playful ("giocoso") main theme is contrasted with two calmer episodes, one played by the flute, the other a chorale on strings. At the end, just as the movement is striving to end in a victorious tone, the music unexpectedly degenerates into a manic frenzy (rehearsal mark 111), which is then interrupted by a string quartet playing staccato "wrong notes" (rehearsal mark 113) with rude interjections from low trumpets, making the ultimate orchestral unison on B-flat sound all the more ironic.

mm. 3–6

Theme from first movement, mm. 15–22

mm. 29–36

mm. 37–38

mm. 54–55

mm. 83–90

mm. 164–172

Instrumentation

The work is scored for the following:

Woodwind Piccolo 2 Flutes 2 Oboes Cor anglais E-flat clarinet 2 Clarinets Bass clarinet 2 Bassoons Contrabassoon

Brass 4 Horns 3 Trumpets 3 Trombones Tuba

Percussion Timpani Bass drum Snare drum Cymbals Triangle Tambourine Tam-tam Wood block

Keyboard Piano Strings Harp Violins (1st and 2nd) Violas Cellos Double basses

Premiere

The symphony was premiered on January 13, 1945, in the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory by the USSR State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Prokofiev himself.[4]

As he took the stage, artillery fired. He paused until it finished. This left a great impression upon the audience, who upon leaving the Great Hall learned the gunfire marked the Red Army's crossing of the Vistula into Germany.[4] The premiere was very well-received, and the symphony has remained one of the composer's most popular works.^{[citation needed]}

Then, in November of that year, Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra introduced the score to America and recorded it in Boston's Symphony Hall on February 6 and 7, 1946, for RCA Victor, using an optical sound film process introduced by RCA in 1941; it was initially issued on 78-rpm discs and later on LP and CD. The symphony's rapid insertion into the repertoire was referenced by Dennis Dobson in his review of the 1951 Edinburgh Festival for Music Survey, where he panned the work as "noisy, uncouth" and a "falling off in maturity" from works such as Chout and the Piano Concerto No. 3 and went on to say, "that this work is well thought of and much played in both America and the Soviet Union speaks sociological and cultural volumes".[5]

Notable recordings

Orchestra	Conductor	Record company	Year of recording	Format
Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York	Artur Rodziński	Columbia Records	1946	LP/CD
Boston Symphony Orchestra	Sergei Koussevitzky	RCA, Dutton	1946	LP/CD
Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra	Erik Tuxen	Decca	1952	LP/CD
Philadelphia Orchestra	Eugene Ormandy	Columbia	1958	LP
Philharmonia Orchestra	Thomas Schippers	Angel, Medici Masters	1957	LP/CD
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire	Jean Martinon	RCA	1959	LP
Cleveland Orchestra	George Szell	Sony	1959	LP/CD
Boston Symphony Orchestra	Erich Leinsdorf	RCA	1963	LP/CD
New York Philharmonic	Leonard Bernstein	Sony	1966	LP/CD
Berlin Philharmonic	Herbert von Karajan	Deutsche Grammophon	1968	LP/CD
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra	Evgeny Mravinsky	Russian Disc, Leningrad Masters	1968	CD
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra	Gennadi Rozhdestvensky	BBC	1971	CD
Concerts Colonne Orchestra	Jascha Horenstein	Vox	1972	CD/LP
Orchestre National de France	Jean Martinon	Vox	1974	LP/CD
Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra	Gennadi Rozhdestvensky	Melodiya	1975	LP
Philadelphia Orchestra	Eugene Ormandy	RCA	1975	CD (Japan only)
London Symphony Orchestra	Walter Weller	Decca	1976	CD
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra	Zdeněk Košler	Supraphon	1979	CD
Concertgebouw Orchestra	Vladimir Ashkenazy	Decca	1985	CD
Scottish National Orchestra	Neeme Järvi	Chandos	1985	CD
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra	Mariss Jansons	Chandos	1987	CD
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra	Dmitri Kitajenko	RCA	1987	CD
Orchestre National de France	Mstislav Rostropovich	Erato	1988	CD
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra	Stephen Gunzenhauser	Naxos	1989	CD
Berlin Philharmonic	Seiji Ozawa	Deutsche Grammophon	1990	CD
Philadelphia Orchestra	Riccardo Muti	Philips	1990	CD
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra	Yoel Levi	Telarc	1991	CD
St. Petersburg Philharmonic	Yuri Temirkanov	RCA	1991	CD
Chicago Symphony Orchestra	James Levine	Deutsche Grammophon	1992	CD
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra	Simon Rattle	EMI	1992	CD
National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine	Theodore Kuchar	Naxos	1995	CD
London Symphony Orchestra	Valery Gergiev	Philips	2004	CD
Concertgebouw Orchestra	Mariss Jansons	RCO Live	2016	SACD

References

External links

• Symphony No. 5 (Prokofiev): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

На других языках

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- [en] Symphony No. 5 (Prokofiev)

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[ru] Симфония № 5 (Прокофьев)

Симфония № 5, си-бемоль мажор, op. 100 — сочинение Сергея Сергеевича Прокофьева для симфонического оркестра, созданное в 1944 году. Пятая симфония была создана в период Великой Отечественной Войны, через четырнадцать лет после предыдущей симфонии автора. О ней Прокофьев писал: «Я задумал её как симфонию величия человеческого духа». Монументальная, грандиозная по размаху, насыщенная драматизмом, симфония развивает героико-эпические традиции русской симфонической музыки.

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