Symphony No. 2 – “Symphony of Song”

Symphony No. 2 – “Symphony of Song” for soprano, baritone, choir and orchestra (1953/1958)

{slider=Symphony No. 2 (Symphony of Song). Arioso /fragment/}

Bożena Betley - soprano, Feliks Gałecki – baryton, Chorus and Orchestra of the Polish Radio in Kraków, cond. Jan Krenz, Kraków 1974

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{slider=Symphony No. 2 (Symphony of Song). Scherzo /fragment/}

Bożena Betley - soprano, Feliks Gałecki – baryton, Chorus and Orchestra of the Polish Radio in Kraków, cond. Jan Krenz, Kraków 1974

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{slider=Symphony No. 2 (Symphony of Song). Quazi variazioni /fragment/}

Bożena Betley - soprano, Feliks Gałecki – baryton, Chorus and Orchestra of the Polish Radio in Kraków, cond. Jan Krenz, Kraków 1974

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{slider=Symphony No. 2 (Symphony of Song). Finale /fragment/}

Bożena Betley - soprano, Feliks Gałecki – baryton, Chorus and Orchestra of the Polish Radio in Kraków, cond. Jan Krenz, Kraków 1974

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Symphony No. 2 – Symphony of Song

The work crowns Kazimierz Serocki’s folkloristic interests, including his fascination with authentic folk poetry. Initially, it was a five-part piece for choir and orchestra, and this version was premiered on 11 June 1954. In 1958 the composer made a new version: he removed the finale and replaced it with part one, corrected the instrumentation and introduced solo voices (soprano and baritone) in some places. The work was performed in this form on 25 June 1959.

It is one of the best works in Serocki’s entire early oeuvre. It is a testimony to Serocki’s great melodic inventiveness, rhythmical ingenuity, wonderful mastery of the art of composition (instrumentation!) and unique ability to artistically transform folklore.

The four-part version of Symphony is based on folk lyrics dealing with love cries of a boy and a girl in Arioso, a picture of a folk wedding (Scherzo), a lullaby (Quasi variazioni) as well as work during harvest time (Finale). All of them came from Oskar Kolberg’s collection, but Serocki’s does not contain any quotes from folk melodies; the symphony is a product of the composer’s creative inventiveness in its entirety.

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Tadeusz A. Zieliński, O twórczości Kazimierza Serockiego [On Kazimierz Serocki’s Oeuvre], Kraków 1985.

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Sheet music available from: PWM