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Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 6 was composed as an elegy to the fatalities of World War II. Musicologists frequently regard this piece as the darker twin to the triumphant Symphony No. 5. Prokofiev wrote of this piece: “Now we are rejoicing in our great victory, but each of us has wounds that cannot be healed. One has lost those dear to him, another has lost his health. These must not be forgotten.” The Seventh Symphony was Prokofiev’s last, completed in 1952, the year before his death. The tone of the symphony is nostalgic and melancholic. Four years after the composer’s death, the work was awarded the Lenin Prize. American born conductor James Gaffigan is the Chief Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and the Principal Guest Conductor of the ensemble featured here, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. The natural ease of his conducting and his compelling insight have brought him attention internationally.