Symphony No. 2 Saint Florian Alfred Schnittke

Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra USSR Ministry of Culture Chamber Choir conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky I Kyrie. Rezitando: 0:00 II Gloria. Maestoso (attacca): 11:48 III Credo. Moderato (attacca): 16:46 IV Crucifixus. Pesante: 24:09 V Sanctus Benedictus. Andante: 35:56 VI Agnus Dei. Andante: 46:39 Schnittke s Second Symphony was written between 197980. It was premièred in London on 23rd April, 1980, by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky. The inspiration came after a travel to Austria in 1977, at the monastery of St Florian, near Linz, where Anton Bruckner lived and worked for a period and where he was buried. This is what Schnittke himself remembered: We arrived at St Florian at dusk, when Bruckners tomb could not be visited. The cold, gloomy baroque church had a mystical air about it. Somewhere behind a wall a small choir was singing the evening mass: a missa invisibilis. There was no o