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What truly set Orchestra Hall on fire came in the second half of the program as Maestro Riccardo Muti, in subtle but wonderfully expressive balletic form, led an altogether blazing performance of Prokofiev’s “Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major,” a 1944 masterwork composed at the height of World War II.

It is a mighty work that requires a mighty performance, and it got that Thursday evening, the kind that is only possible when a top-level conductor and top-level orchestra are completely in sync.