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. 2 (Martinů) Symphony No. 2 (Martinů) Bohuslav Martinů's Symphony No. 2, H. 295, was composed from May 29 to July 24, 1943 under a commission from the Czech community in Cleveland. It was premiered by the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Erich Leinsdorf on October 28 that year, which marked the 25th anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia, then downgraded to a Czech protectorate and Slovak puppet state under German occupation. The work, which has been linked with Antonín Dvořák's 1889 Symphony No. 8 due to its innocently pastoral character, is the shortest of Martinů's six symphonies, lasting ca. 24 minutes, and the