Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra with Reinbert de Leeuw both as a pianist and conductor. Dmitry Lagatchiev as the male reciter.

I - Espressivo: 0:00

Ustvolskaya's Symphony No.2 was finished in 1979, following a style quite close to his three previous works: The compositions No.1- 3. It was premiered on October 8 of 1980 in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), performed by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Altschuler. It is orchestrated for six flutes, six oboes, six trumpets, trombone, tuba, piano and percussion. It also requires a solo, masculine voice as a reciter.

The texts from Ustvolskaya's Symphonies No.2 - 4 belong to an anthology of medieval Latin literature published in Moscow in 1972. Written by the Benedictine monk Hermanus Contractus of Reichenau. A paralytic German nobleman who distinguished himself by his encyclopedic knowledge ranging from mathematics, astronomy to pietistic poetry and music. The symphony is written in a single movement, having nothing at all in common with the definition of the classical symphony.

Despite the religious appearance of the work, the composer was heavily against a religious interpretation of his output. Beyond an extremely ascetical and apocalyptic interpretation of the spiritual, the work also presents itself as a sound ritual. For instance, the reciter must not only be a man, but also be dressed in black and stand on a high place apart from the orchestra. In the score itself we continuously find marks like "espressivissimo!!!" or cryptic messages at the bottom.

The work opens with a loud rhythmic cell on the piano, repeated through the work and accompanied by the beating of percussion. Soon the winds are added in the form of dissonant clusters. The reciter, as in a supplication, recites three times the word "Gospodi", which means "Lord". The piano continues to dominate the scene with its relentless hammering over the wind clusters. A duo between piano and trombone takes place, joined by tuba. The reciter repeats the work "Gospodi" three times, separated by violent orchestral interjections marked by the brass. In the central part, the percussion blows reach their highest power. After a silence, the reciter repeats "Gospodi", followed by the phrase "'true and excellent eternity, eternal and excellent truth, true and excellent goodness'" over the winds clusters, with an agitated tone. Follows dry and violent exchanges between piano, winds and percussion. The music calms down and turns more meditative, as the piccolo is left with the piano. The reciter repeats "Gospodi" for the last time, leaving the piccolo and piano. The work ends with the opening rhythmic cell softly uttered by the piano.

Picture: Unfortunately I couldn't find the source of the picture.

Musical analysis partially written by myself. Source: [ Ссылка ]

Unfortunately the score is not freely available.

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