Essentials: Prokofiev’s Fifth

Paavo Järvi conducts Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5

Paavo Järvi leads Prokofiev’s life-affirming Fifth Symphony, a tribute to ‘the free and happy man’.

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image: Eduardus Lee
dates and tickets
The Essentials Series introduces you to the masterpieces every music lover should know.

Paavo Järvi leads Prokofiev’s life-affirming Fifth Symphony, a tribute to ‘the free and happy man’.

Save as favorite
The Essentials Series introduces you to the masterpieces every music lover should know.

Concert programme

  • Sergej Prokofjev

    Symphony No. 5

Performers

Dates and tickets

About this concert

The Essentials Series introduces you to the masterpieces every music lover should know, complete with a lively introduction by the incomparable Thomas Vanderveken. One of those masterpieces is Sergey Prokofiev’s compelling Fifth Symphony, which was premiered towards the end of the Second World War to the sound of artillery outside. The work made a deep impression on Muscovite audiences. 

Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony is truly a key work in the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s repertoire. Eduard van Beinum conducted the Dutch premiere on 3 November 1948 to commemorate the orchestra’s sixtieth anniversary. The popular guest conductor Paavo Järvi, widely praised for his interpretations of Prokofiev’s music, now presents his own vision of this deeply human, life-affirming war symphony – ‘a tribute to the free and happy man, to his greatness’, as the composer himself described the work.