Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 in G minor, Op. 103, subtitled The Year 1905, was composed in 1957 and premiered in Moscow on 30 October 1957 by the USSR State Symphony Orchestra under Natan Rakhlin (the Leningrad premiere followed on 3...

Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47, was composed in 1937 (April–July) as a public response to the cultural condemnation he had suffered that year; it premiered on 21 November 1937 in Leningrad with Yevgeny Mravinsky and...

Benjamin Britten’s Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 68, was composed in 1963 and dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich, who gave the premiere with Britten conducting the Moscow Philharmonic on 12 March 1964. The work’s title reflects...

REPRINT SERIES George Enescu’s Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 21, was composed between 1916 and 1918 and revised by the composer over subsequent decades; it was first performed under Enescu’s direction in Bucharest (often given the date 25...

REPRINT SERIES  Alan Rawsthorne’s Symphony No. 3 was composed in 1964 on commission from the Cheltenham Festival Committee and premiered that year by the BBC Northern Orchestra under George Hurst in Cheltenham.  Lasting approximately 31...

REPRINT SERIES  George Antheil’s Symphony No. 4 (“1942”) was written between 1942 and 1943 and first performed in 1944 by Leopold Stokowski and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Subtitled simply with its year of completion, the work...

Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93, completed in 1953, is one of his most profound and powerful works. Written after Stalin’s death, it is often interpreted as a reflection on the oppressive Soviet regime and the...

REPRINT SERIES Bacewicz’s Symphony No. 4 (1953) is a structured and rhythmically driven work reflecting her clear orchestration and formal control. Composed during the socialist realism period in Poland, it maintains clarity and energy while...

REPRINT SERIES Grażyna Bacewicz’s Symphony No. 3 (1952) is a striking example of her neoclassical style, blending dynamic orchestration with structural clarity. Composed during a period of increasing Soviet influence in Polish music, the work...

Dmitri Shostakovich composed his Symphony No. 9 in E-flat major, Op. 70 in 1945, following the Soviet victory in World War II. Unlike the grand, triumphant symphony many expected, it is a light, neoclassical work with a modest orchestration. The...

Roberto Gerhard's Symphony No. 3, composed in 1960, is a striking example of his transition from late romanticism to more modernist, experimental approaches. The symphony was written during a period of personal and professional transformation for...

Sibelius's Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82, was composed in 1915 and later revised in 1916 and 1919, reflecting the composer's continuous search for structural clarity and thematic cohesion. Commissioned for his 50th birthday celebrations, the...

Kurt Atterberg's Symphony No. 2 in F major, Op. 6, composed in 1911-12, is a work that reflects his early maturity and connection to the Romantic tradition. It is scored for a standard late-Romantic orchestra and unfolds over three movements. The...

The Symphony in E minor is the first symphony written by the American composer Florence Price. The work was completed in 1932 and was Price's first full-scale orchestral composition and the first symphony by a Black woman to be performed by a major...

REPRINT SERIES  Stravinsky wrote the symphony from 1942–45 on commission by the Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York. It was premièred by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Stravinsky on January 24, 1946.The Symphony in...

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,...

REPRINT SERIESProkofiev's Symphony No. 1 (1916-17) represents the composer's earliest mature effort in a genre he returned to time and again for the remainder of his career. Though the symphony received a warm reception in Russia and abroad -- and...

REPRINT SERIES  The Symphony was written between 1938 and 1940 on a commission from American philanthropist Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss. It was a turbulent period of the composer's life, marked by illness and deaths in his immediate family. In 1937,...