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Symphony No. 7
Symphony No. 7
by Sergei Prokofiev
Key	C-sharp minor
Opus	131
Composed	1952
Duration	31 - 35 min
Movements	Four
Premiere
Date	October 11, 1952
Location	Trade Union Hall of Columns, Moscow
Conductor	Samuil Samosud
Performers	All-Union Radio Orchestra

Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 7 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131, was completed in 1952, the year before his death. It is his last symphony.

Background

Most of the symphony is emotionally restrained, nostalgic and melancholy in mood, including the ending of the Vivace final movement. However, Prokofiev was later convinced to add an energetic and optimistic coda, so as to win the Stalin Prize of 100,000 rubles.^{[citation needed]} Before he died, Prokofiev indicated that the original quiet ending was to be preferred.^[1]

The premiere was well-received, and in 1957, four years after Prokofiev's death, the symphony was awarded the Lenin Prize.

Movements

The symphony is in four movements, lasting 30–35 minutes:

The first movement, in sonata form, opens with a melancholic first theme on violins, which contrasts with the warm and lyrical second theme on winds. After a brief development section, the recapitulation of the two themes follows, and the movement ends in a reflective mood with the clock-ticking sounds on glockenspiel and xylophone.

The second movement is an autumnal waltz, reminiscent of Prokofiev's ballet Cinderella, while the third movement is an expressive and singing slow movement.

The finale, in D-flat major (C-sharp major enharmonic), contains an innocent cheerfulness. There is a slowing of pace and the return of the warm wind theme from the first movement, and the symphony ends with the same tinkling sounds from the tuned percussion as the first movement.

Instrumentation

The work scores for the following:

Woodwinds

Piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons

Brass

4 horn, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba

Percussion

Timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, tambourine, triangle, wood blocks, xylophone, glockenspiel

Keyboard

Piano

Strings

Harp, violins (1st and 2nd), violas, cellos, double basses

Recordings

Samuil Samosud conducted the premiere performance (Trade Union Hall of Columns, Moscow, All-Union Radio Orchestra, 11 October 1952); he recorded it with the same orchestra, using the original slow ending, in 1953 (reissued in 1957 as "Moscow Radio-TV Orchestra".) The first recording with the new assertive ending was by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, from sessions on 26 April 1953. Nikolai Malko and the Philharmonia Orchestra were the first to record the music in stereo, in 1955. Recordings using the original slow ending are marked by an asterisk.

Orchestra	Conductor	Record Company	Year of Recording	Format
Philadelphia Orchestra	Eugene Ormandy	Columbia	1953 (ML 4683)	LP
All-Union Radio Orchestra, USSR	Samuil Samosud*	Melodiya	1953 (issued 1957 as D 01476)	LP
Philharmonia Orchestra^[2]	Nikolai Malko	EMI	1955	CD
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra	Jean Martinon	RCA Victor	1959	LP
Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra	Gennady Rozhdestvensky*	Melodiya	1968	LP
London Symphony Orchestra	Walter Weller	Decca	1974	LP/CD
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra	Zdeněk Košler	Supraphon	1977	LP
London Symphony Orchestra	André Previn	EMI Records	1977	LP
Scottish National Orchestra	Neeme Järvi	Chandos	1986	CD
Orchestre National de France	Mstislav Rostropovich*	Erato	1988	CD
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra	Seiji Ozawa*	Deutsche Grammophon	1989	CD
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra	André Previn	Philips	1989	CD
Cleveland Orchestra	Vladimir Ashkenazy*	Decca	1995	CD
National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine	Theodore Kuchar	Naxos	1994	CD
London Symphony Orchestra	Valery Gergiev*	Philips	2004	CD
Mariinsky Orchestra	Valery Gergiev	Mariinsky Records	2012	SACD
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra	Kirill Karabits	Onyx Records	2013	CD
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra	Andrew Litton	BIS	2016	CD
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra	James Gaffigan	Northstar Recordings	2016	SACD
São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra	Marin Alsop	Naxos	2016	CD
National Orchestra of the O.R.T.F.	Jean Martinon	Vox/Turnabout	1974	LP/CD
USSR Ministry of Culture State Symphony Orchestra	Gennady Rozhdestvensky			LP/CD

Notes

^ "The symphony was originally to have wound down on this desolate theme, but Prokofiev was convinced—by Samosud, according to Rostropovich—to write a much more upbeat end in order to win a first rather than a third class Stalin Prize. Prokofiev told Rostropovich he did so in order to gain the much needed 100,000 rubles: 'But Slava, you will live much longer than I, and you must take care that this new ending never exists after me.' " Daniel Jaffé, Sergey Prokofiev (London; New York: Phaidon Press, 1998): p. 211.
^ This recording was made in 1955 directly after the UK premiere, with Malko conducting. It was EMI's first commercial stereophonic recording.

Bibliography

Berger, Liubov’ Grigor’evna. Sed’maia simfoniia S. Prokof’eva, poiasnenie. Moscow: Sovetskii Kompozitor, 1961.
Jaffé, Daniel. Sergey Prokofiev. 20th-Century Composers. London; New York: Phaidon Press, 1998. ISBN 0714835137 (cloth); ISBN 0714847747 (pbk.).
Slonimskii, Sergei Mikhailovich. Simfonii Prokof’eva: opyt issledovaniia. Leningrad: Muzyka [Leningradskoe otd-nie], 1964.
Clark, Colin. Review of Prokofiev Symphony Recordings (Gergiev, etc.) MusicWeb, http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2004/May-Aug04/Prokofiev_CC.htm
Ottaway, Hugh. "Prokofiev's Seventh Symphony." The Musical Times, vol. 96, no. 1344 (February 1955), pp. 74–75.
Prokofiev, Sergei. Symphony No. 7, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, 1953 (discography of symphony recordings) http://www.reocities.com/Tokyo/1471/symphony.html
Prokofiev, Sergei. Symphony No. 7, All-Union Orchestra ("Moscow Radio-TV Orchestra" in reissue of 1957), Samuil Samosud, cond. https://web.archive.org/web/20030308094425/http://www.prokofiev.org/recordings/album.cfm?aid=000727