Symphony No. 2

Valentin Silvestrov’s Symphony No. 2 for flute, percussion, piano and strings was written in 1965. It was premiered on 1 April 1968 by the Leningrad Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Igor Blazhkov. Given the instrumentation, the work seems to be a chamber piece which the composer called a “symphony” in the literal sense of the word: a “consolidated and summarizing sound.” As in Spektren, the notation is typically avant-garde, with its series of pointillistic markings scattered above the aleatoric flow. Here, too, the composer regards “the form as melody.” According to Silvestrov, this symphony is like “a madrigal without words, through which a melodic wind blows.” To this end, the flute plays a major role, since it can always be heard through the curtain of clusters in the strings and percussion.

The piece is in one movement divided into three sections. The first is the most dramatic, particularly during the solo played by the bells, which is answered by a despairing passage in the flute. A brief lyrical Adagio section – in which even the sudden percussion cadenza is dominated by the quietest sounds – is followed by an equally short finale. The solo passages by various instruments, between which the flute reasserts its leading role, seem to be swept away by the wind before disappearing completely in a cloud of sound from the strings.

Tatjana Frumkis