Search - Alfred Schnittke, Valery Polyansky, Russian Symphony Orchestra :: Schnittke: Symphony No.2

Schnittke/Polyansky at their best!

villegem | canada | 11/26/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ivashkin, Schnittke's biographer describes his symphonies as cultural or spiritual. The Second is an invisible mass composed after Schnittke visited Bruckner's final resting place, St Florian Monastery. This is a spiritual experience that Polyansky captured in this recording. This expansive music reaches further after each listening session. Schnittke like Mahler goes beyond a dry exploration of musical styles. This music is organic and uses many languages to express the composer's soul. It has been said that Mahler was searching for God while Bruckner had found Him. Well, Schnittke finds a mahlerian, personal, human way to access a brucknerian universe, making his "sonic vision" as he said, accessible to anyone with a heart and a soul. THE second symphony of the XX Century! And the recording not to miss!"