Symphony No. 5 (Sallinen)

The National Symphony Orchestra, the commissioning institution, premiered the work in 10 October 1985 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., under the direction of its music director, Mstislav Rostropovich.

[1] The Washington Post reviewed the work with ambivalence, calling it a "big, ambitious new symphony" with "genuinely moving moments" that nonetheless was "more intriguing than convincing," its "disjointed brilliance" unable "to resolve emotionally".

[3] On 23 September 1988, Rostropovich and the NSO performed the revised version of the Fifth, again at the Kennedy Center in Washington; also on the program was Mozart's serenade for strings, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, and Grieg's two Peer Gynt Suites.

[6] While noting the Fifth Symphony's "allusions to other music" (in particular its "post-Sibelian desolation"), The Sunday Times applauded the "vitality of Sallinen's rhythms and the sheer eventfulness of his scoring," as well as his "imaginative and masterly ... handling of the large orchestra".

In his review of this CD (cpo 999970-2), Fanfare's Phillip Scott applauds Rasilainen for "performances of sensitivity and clarity, aided by a stunning recording", albeit played with less obvious irony than DePriest's effort with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra.