This quintet had its origins as music for a ballet called "Trapeze.": it was commissioned by and performed by the Boris Romanov touring dance company. They needed something with economically small orchestration, and asked for a circus setting in the music. Cast as a quintet in a very odd form (six movements: the outer pair are each about five minutes long and the variation-like succession of four inner movements each about two-and-a-half long. This is one of Prokofiev's most radical scores. Harmonies are acerbic and sometimes polytonal (i.e., some instruments play in one key while others play in another); the odd assortment instruments is designed to produce an unblended sound, and along the way are complex rhythmic shifts which clearly owe their existence to the example of Stravinsky. It is a fairly ingratiating piece considering the prickly sound that Prokofiev produced, hard to love but easy to chuckle over. An unusual, and worthwhile, little nugget in Prokofiev's catalogue.

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