If you\u2019re trying to base you decision on which country to live in on the basis of where you are most likely to hear fantastic new symphonies, you could do a lot worse than the UK. <\/strong><\/p>\n David Matthews \u2013 Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a> Philip Sawyers \u2013 Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Composed in a single movement, Sawyers Second sits comfortably alongside its forbears like the Schoenberg First Chamber Symphony, Sibelius\u2019 7th<\/sup> and Schumann\u2019s Fourth. It\u2019s about as tightly argued a piece as you\u2019ll ever hear, a contrapuntal tour de force and full of fire.<\/p>\n Sir Michael Tippett \u2013 Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The premiere of this work was one of the all-time great fiascos, right up there with Rachmaninoff 1, but it\u2019s a major piece, one of Tippett\u2019s best.<\/p>\n See also<\/p>\n John McCabe \u2013 Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a>. Wonderful! The neglect of John\u2019s music by the British musical establishment since his death ought to be a source of grace national shame. I can\u2019t tell you how many funding applications I\u2019ve written in support of his music, none of which have succeeded. He\u2019s one of the UK\u2019s greatest composers.<\/p>\n Matthew Taylor \u2013 Symphony No. 2.<\/strong> <\/a>Won him a place in the 21st<\/sup> Century Symphony project. Not an ESO C-i-A, but a great friend of the ESO, and composer of the 3rd work in our 21st C Symphony Project<\/p>\n Malcolm Arnold \u2013 Symphony No. 2.<\/strong><\/a> The Arnold symphonies are a really important body of work and should be heard a lot more often. Not an ESO C-i-A, but my predecessor Vernon Handley was his greatest interpreter and most powerful advocate.<\/p>\n John Joubert – Symphony No. 2.<\/a><\/strong> A searing reflection of Joubert’s feelings about his home country of South Africa, it belies Joubert’s reputation is a ‘nice’ composer.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no question that what Beethoven started, Mahler finished. To write a symphony after Mahler was to grapple with the question of \u201cwhat next after him.\u201d Some wrote in tribute, some reacted with a new classical restraint. <\/strong><\/p>\n Alfredo Casella \u2013 Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Written while Mahler was still alive, and by an Italian, no less! But Mahler\u2019s influence is strong in Casella, and this is a rich and wonderful work.<\/p>\n Franz Schmidt \u2013 Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a> Hans G\u00e1l \u2013 Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Without a doubt one of the great symphonies (of any number) written in the 20th<\/sup> Century, and one of the greatest slow movements ever written. Written in a period of almost unimaginable personal crisis following the deaths of several members of his family, this is a work both almost unbearably personal and profoundly universal<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Beloved of audiences around the world, each of these works somehow embodies something of the character of the nation, both physical and spiritual, of their respective composers.<\/strong><\/p>\n Sibelius Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Perhaps the most popular and nationalistic of his seven great symphonies, Sibelius\u2019 Second is full of powerful evocations of the Finnish landscape. The only problem I have with Sibelius 2 is that, because most musicians learn it in youth orchestra, most musicians think it\u2019s an \u2018easy\u2019 symphony and end up playing it badly. I\u2019ve never conducted a satisfying performance of it, but I\u2019m still trying!<\/p>\n Elgar Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s not surprising that a work often seen as Elgar\u2019s requiem for the British Empire was received with a muted response at its premiere. No worries, on October 31, it\u2019s getting a new, triumphant ending with offstage brass and 600 person choir as we leave the European Union and restore the Guinea as our national currency.<\/p>\n Rachmaninoff \u2013 Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Rachmaninoff was the composer who brought together the echt-Russian darkness and melancholy of Mussorgsky and the almost super-human craftsmanship and melodic inspiration of Tchaikovsky. If you skip the exposition repeat, or make any cuts in this beautiful, deeply moving work, it will be very hard for us to stay friends. Timpani thwack at and of first movement is okay with me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For these composers, their second essay in the genre of the symphony didn\u2019t just mark a step forward from their first, but an explosion of audacity and originality that can still startle today.<\/p>\n Copland \u2013 Short Symphony (2nd<\/sup> Symphony)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n One of Copland\u2019s most enduringly modern scores, it\u2019s tangle rhythmic language makes the Rite of Spring look like Three Blind Mice.<\/p>\n Prokofiev \u2013 Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n After his charming but mild-mannered Classical Symphony, Prokofiev\u2019s Second Symphony showed the world the insanity and mayhem boiling up inside him. It\u2019s still a piece that sounds shocking to many listeners and seems to baffle many critics, who seem to dismiss it as simply ‘noisy.’ I listen to this piece in a state of shock and awe – it just seems to be exploding with energy and invention. A work of incredible genius and originality.<\/p>\n Beethoven Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n Because not everything in life fits into a category<\/strong><\/p>\n Walter Piston \u2013 Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a> Anton Bruckner \u2013 Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The only think Bruckner 2 has going against it is that he went on to write so many great symphonies after it. Also, the Third, which is, in my opinion, not quite as good, exists in so many muddled versions and editions that most folks assume the Second must also be a bit of a quagmire. It\u2019s not, and it\u2019s a piece that can be played very successfully by small and medium-sized orchestras.<\/p>\n Alb\u00e9ric Magnard \u2013 Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Let\u2019s face it, you can\u2019t leave a man who died taking on the German army single handed off any list. All four of his symphonies are well worth listening to.<\/p>\n And:<\/p>\n Christopher Rouse – Symphony No. 2.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n We lost Chris, who was at the time of his death our greatest living American Composer, this week. His Sixth Symphony awaits its premiere, but it’s not at all unlikely that history will come to view him as the greatest symphonist America has produced. His Second was the first of his symphonies I heard.<\/p>\n Any of these three works could legitimately lay claim to the throne of \u201cGreatest Second Symphony\u201d depending on your criteria.<\/strong><\/p>\n The most perfect Brahms 2 is a perfect piece. Richly imagined, melodically super-abundant, intellectually rigorous, emotionally wide-ranging. Of all the second symphonies ever written, this is the one in which form and material are most perfectly aligned<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The most emotional I can\u2019t think of any piece of music in any genre as moving, as emotional, as spiritual as Mahler 2. It\u2019s not Mahler\u2019s most perfect work, not his most personal work, not his most innovative work, but it is the one which brings performers and listners together in a kind of ecstatic spiritual union unlike any piece of music I\u2019ve ever encountered.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The richest, the deepest and the most human Longtime Vftp readers won\u2019t be surprised to see this piece here. Given that most symphonies are \u2018absolute music\u2019 written in a purely musical form, it\u2019s often hard to safely describe what they are about. For a variety of reasons, it\u2019s not hard to see that Schumann 2 is a piece about pain, love and music, and I can\u2019t think of any work of art which explores these aspects of the human experience so profoundly. As a piece of musical craft, this is a work like no other \u2013 Schumann\u2019s working of his material is so lucid, so imaginative and so deep that even after 25 years conducting it and studying it, I feel like I could spend months on just really understanding the first 30 bars.<\/p>\n On any given day, I would happily make the case for any of these three works as the greatest of all second symphonies, but since my beloved Bobby Schumann<\/strong> is the composer who seems most underrated of all, it only seems fair that I take every chance to champion his as the greatest<\/strong>.<\/p>\n On the other hand, it\u2019s not actually his second symphony, so let\u2019s give the prize to Mahler<\/strong> this year. Come to MahlerFest XXXIII<\/a> and see what you think!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let me know your thoughts. Perhaps you’ll inspire me to have…. second thoughts.<\/p>\n
\nPremiered by Simon Rattle and the Philharmonia in 1982 (linked above), this work announced David Matthews to the world as the preeminent British symphonist of his generation. He\u2019s gone from strength to strength since then<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n
Three post-Mahlerian gems<\/h2>\n
\nI think Schmidt\u2019s Fourth is really his masterpiece, but his Second is gorgeous. I saw one commentator call it \u201cMahler without the bitterness.\u201d That\u2019s a bit simplistic, but if it gets you interested in listening, then that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\nThree Romantic mega masterworks by national heroes<\/h2>\n
Three Fiery Breakout Pieces<\/h2>\n
\nMany historians think of Beethoven\u2019s 3rd<\/sup> Symphony as his great leap into modernity, but his Second is one of his wildest and most adventurous works, crowned by what must be his most outrageous and exciting Finale.<\/p>\nThree unrelated symphonies I couldn\u2019t leave off this list.<\/h2>\n
\nA very fine candidate for \u201cthe Great American Symphony\u201d and it certainly has the most beautiful slow movement of any American symphony.<\/p>\nThe Three Greatest Second Symphonies<\/h2>\n
\n<\/strong>Brahms \u2013 Symphony No. 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n
\nMahler- Symphony No. 2<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nSchumann \u2013 Symphony No. 2<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
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