Prokofiev often exhibited a tendency toward extravagance in his larger scores. Looking at the instrumentation listed in the headnote above, one more than suspects that this work would be an example of that tendency. Much more than that, it is an unforgettable aural experience in concert or on record. Within the first minute, the colorful, boisterous nature of this score leaves the auditory senses flabbergasted by blaring fanfares, powerful stokes of percussion, and finally pianos hammering out a rhythm while the brasses proclaim the victorious theme.

It is this melody that is the strongest element in this unusual composition. Played mainly by trumpets and trombones, it is a long-breathed theme that rises and falls in several places along its crushingly glorious path. A second melody soon follows, lively and joyous in mood, and more lightly scored. This, as well as the blithely nonchalant tune that constitutes the largest portion of the middle section, first appeared in the ninth movement, "Symphony," of Prokofiev's Cantata for The 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, a composition whose satire on the regime and bold scoring kept the composer from seeking a performance in his lifetime. The Ode ends with a bombastic restatement of the main theme and a blaze of uproarious trumpeting, which seems to imitate the cackling and laughing of relief from suffering more than evoking victory.

© Robert Cummings, All Music Guide