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. 4 (Raff) Symphony No. 4 (Raff) Symphony No. 4 in G minor, Op. 167, was composed by Joachim Raff in the spring and summer of 1871, during the time of the Franco-Prussian War. The work was published in October 1872. Like his Second Symphony, it does not carry a descriptive title and there is no evidence that Raff had a particular programme in mind when he wrote the symphony. Following the success of his Third Symphony and the opera "", the orchestras were eager to perform Raff's new symphony. It received its premiere on 8 February 1872 in a concert at the