In 1929, another planned Soviet tour was cancelled, this time because of a hand injury Prokofiev suffered in a car accident.

The resulting piece was Le pas d'acier (The Steel Step), Prokofiev's third ballet for Diaghilev, which premiered in Paris in the summer of 1927.

[3] In late 1928, with the aforementioned Soviet tour cancelled, Prokofiev decided to accept another ballet commission from Diaghilev.

This piece, rather than being on futurist themes like Le pas d'acier, was based on a Biblical story: L'enfant Prodigue (Parable of the Prodigal Son from the Bible).

[5] As Prokofiev was composing The Prodigal Son in early 1929, he found that many of the themes he was creating would work better in a more developmental symphonic context, rather than the more episodic layout of a ballet.

[10] Prokofiev worked on the symphony on the long train rides he had to take during a tour of the United States in early 1930.

At the Scherzo, Prokofiev indulges in new delicacies of orchestration, giving a sinuous dance theme to the strings (ex.4), and decorating it on its return.

The angular unisons framing the Trio section benefit from a touch of counterpoint in the trumpet and horn parts, and the ballet dance's form lends itself perfectly to a classically proportioned scherzo.

The recapitulation is prefaced by a jarring statement of the theme from the fifth number in B-flat major, followed by a blaring diminished-seventh fanfare.

The recapitulation begins with the newly composed second theme, and transitions to the Coda through some variations of the fanfare motive from the end of the development.

In addition to Prokofiev, other reputable composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, and Arthur Honegger were also commissioned to write music for Boston in the 1930-1931 season.

Koussevitzky on the other hand was skeptical of Prokofiev's reworking of ideas from the ballet, and the premiere received a lukewarm reception.

[14] Music critics began accusing Prokofiev of running dry of ideas after several unsuccessful performances of the work.

[17] Prokofiev persevered despite this trend of disappointment, and later in 1937 he performed the Fourth Symphony at a festival celebrating the 20th anniversary of the October Revolution.

"[18] These poor receptions not only hindered Prokofiev's confidence, but also drew negative attention from the Soviet Committee of Arts and Affairs.

[17] In 1932, Joseph Stalin created the Union of Soviet Composers, and laid out a doctrine of "socialist realism" in art.

[2] As Prokofiev was considering a return to the Soviet Union, he believed that the direction his music was taking at the time (a simpler, more straightforward style) would allow him to excel there.

Many works and composers were banned and warned, including Prokofiev himself, although he had been relatively successful and popular in the Soviet Union up until that time.

Prokofiev was also working on his opera War and Peace, the second part of which would be subject to cancellation in the summer of 1947 by the authorities, due to the composer's refusal to cut certain controversial scenes.

The combination of a heavier use of brass and the use of piano and harp adds a unique timbre to the piece, further distancing it from the original neoclassical idiom.

To fit the larger scale of a socialist realist symphony, the second movement's revision basically doubles its length.

At the 3/4, the melody in the oboes and English horn appears as in Opus 47, but here this passage leads to a reminiscence of the original introduction theme.

In this movement, Prokofiev adds to the Scherzo and Trio a new introduction, extends the coda, and inserts material at the main transition points that further develop the subjects.

Such serious, weighty passages place the original, lighter material in figurative quotation marks, almost mocking them as unserious or unworthy.

Instead of the second theme, the transition moves into a dark and moody section in E-flat major and in 6/8 meter, resembling some kind of somber procession.

In early 1948, shortly after the revisions of Opus 112 were completed, the Union of Soviet Composers issued commands that Prokofiev's music (among others) be banned from concert halls, amid accusations of "formalism."

The first premiere was Sir Adrian Boult conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a radio broadcast on March 11, 1950.

[25] The concert premiere was Gennadi Rozhdestvensky conducting the U.S.S.R. State Symphony Orchestra on January 5, 1957 at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

Let us hope that the appearance of these scores presages a resurgence of interest in Prokofiev's Paris years, for works such as the now neglected Quintet, Op.

It was not until Valery Gergiev released a Prokofiev complete symphonic recording in 2006 that Russia and the western world were again able to hear both versions.