Prokofiev: Symphony No. 4

Prokofiev’s Symphony No 4 was originally completed in 1930 and shared much of its musical material with his ballet The Prodigal Son, composed around the same time. Though Prokofiev had largely avoided harsh criticism from Soviet authorities in the past, the initial reception of the Fourth Symphony was lukewarm at best.

Shortly afterwards Prokofiev returned to the Soviet Union, determined to push ahead with his grander, more straightforward Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. He hoped this stylistic shift would align him with the cultural demands of his homeland, yet despite his optimism, Prokofiev’s music was banned in Stalinist
Russia.

On this new album from LSO Live, Gianandrea Noseda conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in the revised version of Prokofiev’s Fourth Symphony. This dark, ambivalent work was produced in 1947—just as his fortunes turned—and thus never performed in the Soviet Union within the composer’s lifetime.