Prokofiev Symphony No. 5
Composed alongside fellow distinguished Russian
composers at a House of Creative Work northeast of Moscow, Prokofiev’s renowned
Fifth Symphony saw its premiere in January 1945, as Soviet armies had begun their final push to victory over Germany. As Prokofiev raised his baton in the silent
hall, the audience could hear the gunfire that celebrated the news, just
arrived, that the army had crossed the Vistula and driven the German Wehrmacht
back past the Oder river.
