Symphony No. 5 in B‑Flat Major

Prokofiev wrote his Fifth Symphony very quickly in 1944, when the tide of the Second World War had begun to turn in favour of his readopted homeland, Russia. In a declaration at the time, Prokofiev said that he intended the symphony as "a hymn to free and happy man, to his mighty powers, his pure and noble spirit". It was the kind of statement guaranteed to please the Soviet authorities, yet there is more than a grain of truth in it. There are moments where the Fifth Symphony does seem to confront the ordeal of war. The long first movement develops into a colossal, thrilling struggle of epic character, but the expansive confidence of the opening theme prevails in the end. After this comes a brilliant, wickedly humorous scherzo, followed by a slow movement which opens in Prokofiev’s most mysterious fairy-tale vein—though here militaristic elements cast more than passing shadows. The finale lives up to its marking giocoso (joyous), building at last to a frenzied coda. As Prokofiev took the stage to conduct the symphony’s premiere in Moscow in 1945, artillery fire was heard, which turned out to mark the Red Army’s victorious entry into Germany. The music’s mix of defiance and celebration couldn’t have been better timed, and the performance was a huge success.