In the first decades of the twentieth century, Sergei Prokofiev was already recognized as a prominent figure of the Russian avant-garde music of the time. However, for the composition of his First Symphony, he chose to adhere to classical molds. Moreover, it was the composer himself and not some shrewd editor who subtitled the work with the nickname "Classical". Some say that with this the author was humorously announcing that the work would one day become no more and no less than a "classic". Others say that with the subtitle Prokofiev only wanted to mock the critics of the time, as he was sure to keep them intrigued for a long time.
USA, and the return
The time of its composition, 1916-17, finds Prokofiev, in his early twenties, in pre-Soviet Russia, although he will leave St. Petersburg soon, six months after the Bolshevik revolution, for the United States. His compatriot Sergei Rachmaninoff had already left in the same direction and everything seemed to indicate that things were going wonderfully there. Life behaved wonderfully, and something more, with Rachmaninoff, but not with Prokofiev. The author returned to Europe in 1922, and eleven years later he dared to make the leap to Stalinist Russia, in the company of his wife Lina and children. He managed to get by (Lina not so much, but that is another story), and there he died, in Moscow, as an artist of the Revolution, in 1953, the same day as Stalin.
Symphony No 1 opus 25, in D major, "Classical"
Whatever Prokofiev's purpose may have been, the moniker "classical" does not suit it badly, though this is not to be understood in the "neoclassical" vein adopted at the time by Stravinsky and other contemporary composers. Rather, with its simple elegance the work unabashedly evokes the spirit of the purest Viennese classicism of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, although it is not lacking in surprising tonal leaps and the occasional unexpected dissonance.
Movements:
All in all, from a formal point of view, nothing is more classical than its structure in the usual four movements: rapids in the first and last, a slow second movement, and a Mozartian gavotte in the third.
00:00 Allegro con brio
04:55 Larghetto
09:05 Gavotta - non troppo allegro
10:51 Finale - molto vivace
The performance is by the symphonic ensemble hr-Sinfonieorchester - Frankfurt Radio Symphony, conducted by François Leleux.
