Symphony No. 2 (Shostakovich) October Revolution in his Twelfth Symphony, subtitled "The Year 1917". The symphony is a short (about 20 minutes) experimental work in one movement; within this movement are four sections, the last of which includes a chorus. In a marked departure from his First Symphony, Shostakovich composed his Second in a gestural, geometric "music without emotional structure" manner, with the intent of reflecting speech patterns and physical movements in a neo-realistic style. This choice may have been influenced at least partially by Vsevolod Meyerhold's theory of biomechanics. Shostakovich placed far more emphasis on texture in this work than he did on
Symphony No. 1 (Stanford) Symphony No. 1 (Stanford) Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major was the first symphony composed by Charles Villiers Stanford. It was written in 1876 to compete for a prize offered by the proprietors of the Alexandra Palace. It came second out of 46 entries earning a prize of £5. The symphony was dedicated to the tenor Arthur Duke Coleridge who had been a friend of Stanford's at Cambridge. It was first played at The Crystal Palace in London in 1879 but was never published or performed again in Stanford's lifetime. According to Stanford's biographer, Jeremy Dibble, the work shows influences