Lieutenant Kijé, Op. 60

The suite unfolds as five short scenes rather than a tightly argued symphonic form, so listen for it as a set of character sketches.

"Birth of Kijé" opens with a distant cornet fanfare, played offstage so it sounds like it is arriving from far away. This same tune returns to close the suite, framing everything in between.

"Romance" is slow and lyrical, built around a warm, folk-like melody first heard on strings, later taken up by a baritone or saxophone in some versions. It has the feel of a wistful love song.

"Kijé's Wedding" is bright and dance-like, full of jaunty brass and quick string figures, evoking a festive but slightly absurd celebration for a groom who does not actually exist.

"Troika" is the best-known movement, a galloping sleigh-ride tune driven by sleigh bells and a big, singable melody that has turned up in film trailers and holiday broadcasts. It builds to a boisterous full-orchestra peak.

"The Burial of Kijé" returns to the opening cornet call, now heard as an epitaph, before the music fades into silence, quietly undercutting the whole charade with the sound of an absence.

Prokofiev wrote the score in 1933 for the Soviet film "Lieutenant Kijé," a satire in which a clerical error creates a fictitious officer who is promoted, married, and eventually reported dead, all without existing. It was Prokofiev's first film score, composed shortly after his return to the Soviet Union from years abroad. In 1934 he reworked the music into a five-movement orchestral suite, Op. 60, which quickly became far more popular in the concert hall than the film itself. The suite kept the score's mix of mock-heroic fanfares, folk-flavored melody, and dry humor, and it remains one of Prokofiev's most frequently performed orchestral works, often programmed as an approachable, tuneful companion to weightier repertoire.