The Melos Ensemble was founded in 1950 as a combination of a string quintet and a wind quintet, along with harp and piano, but also accompanied by other players. It is easily confused with similar named groups, like the Melos Quartet. This ensemble however, wanted to get together to play and record the rather rare pieces of chamber music that is for larger, or odd combinations. Benjamin Britten wrote his War Requiem for them in 1962, and he is not the only composer to do so.
For this record it is Prokofiev’s turn, with his quintet for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and double bass. It was composed in 1924, when Prokofiev was living in Paris. He got a commission from a travelling ballet company about the life in the circus. The resulting ballet, Trapèze, was not a success, and barely survived. It died an early death after just a few performances, and then was reconstructed in 2002.
However, since the company only had a small group of musicians, it gave Prokofiev the opportunity to create some chamber music for the ballet, and also use parts of it in pieces of chamber music he could publish. So his opus 39 is just that: fragment of an unsuccessful ballet.