Symphony No. 2 (Prokofiev)

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Symphony No. 2 (Prokofiev)

Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer who mastered numerous musical genres and came to be admired as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century....
wrote his Symphony No. 2 in D minor (Op. 40) in 1924-5. He wrote it in Paris

Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
, during what he called "nine months of frenzied toil". He characterized this symphony as a work of "iron and steel".

ofiev based the symphony's overall structure, of a tempestuous minor-key first movement followed by a set of variation

Variation (music)

In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition: reiteration with changes. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre or orchestration....
s, on Beethoven's last piano sonata (Op. 111

Piano Sonata No. 32 (Beethoven)

The Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, opus number 111, is the last of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas. Along with Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, op....
). The first movement, in traditional sonata form

Sonata form

Sonata form is a musical form that has been used widely since the early Classical music era. While it is typically used in the first Movement of multimovement pieces, it is sometimes employed in subsequent movements as well....
, is rhythmically unrelenting, harmonically dissonant

Consonance and dissonance

Discussion

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Sergei Prokofiev

Paris

Structure

Prokofiev based the symphony's overall structure, of a tempestuous minor-key first movement followed by a set of variation

Variation (music)

Piano Sonata No. 32 (Beethoven)

Sonata form

Consonance and dissonance

In music, a consonance is a harmony, Chord , or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance ? considered unstable . The strictest definition of consonance may be only those sounds which are pleasant, while the most general definition includes any sounds which are used freely....
, and texturally thick. The second movement, twice as long as the first, is a set of variations based on a diatonic theme played by a plaintive oboe, giving a strong contrast to the defiant coda of the 1st movement. The subsequent variations contrast moments of beautiful meditation with cheeky playfulness, while the last variation integrates the theme with the violence of the first movement, reaching an inevitable climax. The symphony ends with a touching reinstatement of the initial oboe theme, eventually dispelled by an eerie chord on the strings.

Premiere and public reaction

The piece was premiered in Paris

Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
on June 6, 1925, conducted

Conducting

Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors....
by its dedicatee Serge Koussevitzky, and was not well received. After the premiere, Prokofiev commented that neither he nor the audience understood the piece. In a letter to Nikolai Myaskovsky

Nikolai Myaskovsky

Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky was a Russian composer. He is sometimes referred to as the "father of the Soviet symphony"....
, Prokofiev wrote: I have made the music so complex to such an extent that when I listen to it myself I do not fathom its essence, so what can I ask of others?".

Prokofiev later said that this symphony led him to have doubts about his ability as a composer for the first time in his life.

Prokofiev intended to reconstruct the piece in three movements, going so far as to assign the project the opus number 136, but the composer died before he could undertake the revisions. The symphony has remained an obscure work, possibly the least-played of Prokofiev's seven symphonies.

Instrumentation
The work scores for the followings:

Woodwinds
Piccolo
Piccolo

The piccolo is a small flute. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger component, the flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written....
2 Flute
Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike other woodwind instruments, a flute is a reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air against an edge....
s
2 Oboe
Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois", "hoboy", or "French hoboy"....
s
Cor Anglais
Cor anglais

The cor anglais, or English horn, is a Double reed woodwind Musical instrument in the oboe family.The cor anglais is a transposing instrument pitched in F, a perfect fifth lower than the oboe , and is consequently approximately one-third longer....
2 Clarinet
Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet....
s
Bass Clarinet
Bass clarinet

The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet....
2 Bassoon
Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the Bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher....
s
Contrabassoon
Contrabassoon

The contrabassoon is a larger version of the bassoon sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences....

Brass
4 French Horns
3 Trumpet
Trumpet

The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
s
3 Trombone
Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass instrument family. Like all brass instruments, it is a lip-reed aerophone: sound is produced when the player?s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate....
s
Tuba
Tuba

The tuba is the largest and lowest pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped Mouthpiece ....

Percussion
Timpani
Timpani

Timpani are musical instruments in the percussion instrument family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a drumhead stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper, and more recently, constructed of more lightweight fiberglass....
Bass drum
Bass drum

A bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch . There are three general classifications of bass drums: the concert bass drum, the kick' drum, and the pitched bass drum....
cymbal
Cymbal

Cymbals are a modern percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various cymbal alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture....
s
Snare drum
Snare drum

The snare drum is a drum with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or catgut cords stretched across the a drumhead, typically the bottom....
castanet
Castanet

Castanets are percussion instrument , much used in Moorish, Ottoman music, Music of ancient Rome, Italian music, Spanish music, Portuguese music and Latin American music....
s
Triangle
Triangle (instrument)

The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the Percussion instrument family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel in modern instruments, bent into a triangle shape....
Tambourine
Tambourine

The tambourine or Marine is a musical instrument of the Percussion instrument family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils"....

Keyboard
Piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....

Strings
Violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
s (1st and 2nd)
Viola
Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range , and nearly identical playing position....
s
Cello
Cello

The violoncello is a bowed string instrument. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra....
s
Double Bass
Double bass

The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
es

Movements
The symphony is in 2 movements, lasting 35-40 minutes:

Allegro ben articolato (12 minutes)
Theme and Variations (25 minutes)

Theme: Andante
Variation 1: L'istesso tempo
Variation 2: Allegro non troppo
Variation 3: Allegro
Variation 4: Larghetto
Variation 5: Allegro con brio
Variation 6: Allegro moderato
Theme

Recordings

Orchestra	Conductor	Record Company	Year of Recording	Format
Scottish National Orchestra	Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi Neeme J?rvi is an Estonian-born United States conducting.Neeme J?rvi was born in Tallinn and studied first there and then in Saint Petersburg under Evgeny Mravinsky, among others....	Chandos Records Chandos Records Chandos Records is an independent European classical music label based in the United Kingdom, founded by Brian Couzens. Their catalog contains a range of classical music - for example, much orchestral, choir and chamber music by such relatively lesser-known British composers as Herbert Howells, Gerald Finzi, Charles Stanford and Arnold Bax co...	1986	CD
London Symphony Orchestra London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Arts Centre....	Valery Gergiev Valery Gergiev Valery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conducting and opera company director. He is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera....	Philips Philips Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , usually known as Philips, is a Netherlands electronics company. It is one of the largest electronics companies in the world, founded and headquartered in the Netherlands....	2004	CD
London Philharmonic Orchestra London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall....	Walter Weller Walter Weller Walter Weller is an Austrians conducting and violinist....	Decca Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 in music by Edward Lewis . Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; later the link with the British company was broken for several decades....	1978	CD
Orchestre National de France Orchestre National de France The Orchestre National de France is a symphony orchestra run by Radio France. It has also been known as the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Fran?aise and Orchestre National de l'Office de Radiodiffusion T?l?vision Fran?aise ....	Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire , , known to close friends as ?Slava,? was a Russians cellist and conducting....	Erato Erato In Greek mythology, Erato is one of the Greek Muses. The name would mean "lovely" if derived from Eros , as Apollonius of Rhodes playfully suggested in the invocation to Erato that begins Book III of his Argonautica....	1988	CD
Russian State Symphony Orchestra Russian State Symphony Orchestra Russian State Symphony Orchestra is a name confusingly used by two distinct ensembles:* The State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Federation, which was formerly the USSR State Symphony Orchestra...	Valeri Polyansky	Chandos Records Chandos Records Chandos Records is an independent European classical music label based in the United Kingdom, founded by Brian Couzens. Their catalog contains a range of classical music - for example, much orchestral, choir and chamber music by such relatively lesser-known British composers as Herbert Howells, Gerald Finzi, Charles Stanford and Arnold Bax co...	?	CD
National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine	Theodore Kuchar	Naxos Records		CD
National Orchestra of the O.R.T.F.	Jean Martinon Jean Martinon Jean Martinon was a France conducting and composer....	Vox Records Vox Records VOX Records is a budget classical music record label founded by George Mendelssohn, a distant descendant of the composer Felix Mendelssohn, in 1945....		CD
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Czech Philharmonic Orchestra The Cesk? filharmonie is a symphony orchestra based in Prague and is the best-known and most respected orchestra in the Czech Republic. It was voted 20th place of the top 20 best orchestras in the World in a 2008 survey organized by the British magazine Gramophone ....	Zdenek Kosler	Supraphon Supraphon Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech Republic record label, it is oriented mainly on publishing classical music....	1980	CD
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra The Berlin Philharmonic , is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In 2006, a group of ten European media outlets voted the Berlin Philharmonic number three on a list of "top ten European Orchestras", after the Vienna Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra....	Seiji Ozawa Seiji Ozawa is a Japanese conducting, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic music works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera....	Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon is a Germany classical record label, now part of the Universal Music Group. The company has long been known for its high standards of high fidelity....	1990	CD
USSR Ministry of Culture State Symphony Orchestra	Gennadi Rozhdestvensky			CD/LP