Symphony No. 2 (Rubbra)
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The Symphony No. 2 in D, op. 45, by Edmund Rubbra was composed between February and November 1937 and dedicated to Sir Adrian Boult, who conducted the first performance, broadcast on 16 December 1938.[1][2] Boult had previously conducted the premiere of Rubbra's First Symphony just 20 months earlier.[3]
Rubbra revised the scoring of the Symphony in 1945, reducing the requirement for triple woodwind down to double.[4] He also made cuts to the first movement and revised the ending to finish in D major, somewhat clarifying the symphony's ambiguous tonality: the original version began in D minor and ended in Eb major.[5][6] The new version, the first example of a 'Cheltenham Symphony', was first performed at the Cheltenham Festival in 1946, with the composer conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra.[4]
There are four movements:
I Lento rubato. "A movement where the development never ceases".[7]
II Scherzo: Vivace assai. Alternating time signatures (9/8, 15/8), musical battle between C major and C# minor.[7]
III Adagio tranquillo. "One of the most introspective [movements] in all Rubbra's music".[7]
IV Rondo: Allegretto amabile - Coda: Presto. "Predominantly a happy movement [that] must be played with great lilt by a virtuoso orchestra to be the convincing coda to the experiences of the whole symphony".[7]