Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27

I. Largo, Allegro moderato. Cellos and basses growl out a slow, brooding motto in the first bars, a shape that will keep returning across the whole hour. A long introduction gathers weight, a solo English horn sings over it, then the main fast section arrives with restless, surging string writing. Listen for the violin melody that keeps climbing and falling back, and for the harsh brass chords near the end of the movement.

II. Allegro molto. The horns launch a driving, galloping tune over churning strings. Midway the mood swings to a broad, warm melody, then the orchestra turns to a tight, scurrying passage where sections chase one another in strict imitation. The gallop returns, and the movement ends quietly, almost dismissively.

III. Adagio. The strings offer a few bars of glowing melody, then hand everything to a solo clarinet for one of the longest unbroken tunes in the repertoire, several minutes of unhurried singing. The opening motto slips back in the woodwinds. The climax is huge, then everything subsides.

IV. Allegro vivace. A blaring march bursts out, complete with tambourine and cymbals. It alternates with a sweeping love-song theme; fragments of earlier movements drift past. A long descending scale sets up the final surge to a bright E major finish.

Rachmaninoff's First Symphony failed badly at its 1897 premiere in St. Petersburg, and he did not attempt another symphony for a decade. In 1906 he moved his family to Dresden, partly to escape the demands of conducting work in Moscow, and there he wrote the Second Symphony. He conducted the premiere in St. Petersburg in January 1908, followed by a Moscow performance days later, and the work won the Glinka Prize that year. Because the symphony runs close to an hour, conductors for much of the twentieth century performed it with substantial cuts, sometimes removing a quarter of the music. Recordings and performances from the 1970s onward restored the full score, and the uncut version is now standard. The third movement's clarinet melody has had a long life outside the concert hall, including in popular songs, which is one reason listeners often recognize the tune before they know its source.