The Symphony No. 2, Op. 247, is a work for orchestra by French composer
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...
. It was written in the U.S. in 1944 on a commission from the Koussevitzky Music Foundations in memory of Serge Koussevitzky's second wife Natalie, who had died in 1942. The premiere of the work was played by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1946, with the composer himself conducting.
Milhaud's Second Symphony is in five movements, with a total running time of about 27 minutes. The titles of the movements, which are more character descriptions than tempo markings, are as follows:
# Paisible (approx. 5'40")
# Mystérieux (approx. 5'25")
# Douloureux (approx. 8'25")
# Avec Sérénité (approx. 3'15")
# Alleluia (approx. 4'10")
This symphony (not to be confused with Milhaud's 1918 Chamber Symphony No. 2 "Pastorale," op. 49) is published by Heugel & Cie.
Recordings
*
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
The Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire was a symphony orchestra established in Paris in 1828. It gave its first concert on 9 March 1828 with music by Beethoven, Rossini, Meifreid, Rode and Cherubini.
Administered by the philh ...
, Conductor:
Georges Tzipine
Georges Samuel Tzipine (22 June 1907 – 8 December 1987) was a French violinist, conductor and composer. He was of Russian-Jewish origin.Columbia) - 1953
* Toulouse Capitole Orchestra, Conductor:
Michel Plasson
Michel Plasson (born 2 October 1933, Paris, France) is a French conductor.
Plasson was a student of Lazare Lévy at the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1962, he was a prize-winner at the International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors. ...
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Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...