About this edition
Vasily Kalinnikov's Symphony No. 2 in A major stands as the luminous companion to his far more famous First Symphony, revealing a composer at the height of his lyrical and orchestral powers even as illness closed in around him. Composed in the mid-1890s, the symphony unfolds in warm, songful themes and richly colored orchestration that place Kalinnikov squarely within the great tradition of Russian symphonism inherited from Tchaikovsky and Borodin, yet stamped with his own gentle, pastoral voice. Though it has never quite matched the First Symphony's popularity, musicians who discover it consistently praise its melodic generosity and its sunlit contrast to the darker G minor of its sibling — a work fully deserving of a place alongside the great late-Romantic Russian symphonies.
This edition reproduces the full orchestral score as issued by P. Jurgenson of Moscow, plate number 25543, published without a stated date but firmly datable to 1901 — the year of Kalinnikov's death. Jurgenson was the preeminent Russian music publishing house of the era, principal publisher of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Taneyev, and its engraved scores set the standard for accuracy and craftsmanship in Russian music publishing of the period. As one of the earliest published full scores of the work, issued in the circle of Kalinnikov's own lifetime, this Jurgenson print remains a foundational source text for the symphony, the edition from which much subsequent study and performance material descends.
About this edition:
- Format: full orchestral score
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches
- Reproduced from a public domain historical source
- Published by Purple 4R Publishing
This score reproduces a historical edition that has long been in the public domain, and we're delighted to bring Kalinnikov's radiant Second Symphony back into print — a welcome resource for conductors, orchestras, students, and anyone eager to explore the byways of the Russian symphonic repertoire.
