Symphony No. 2

William Bolcom's SYMPHONY No. 2, written to fulfill the requirements for his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stanford University, reveal over sixty years later, the emergence of the composer's present style of writing, with its underpinnings of chromaticism, despite the atmosphere of the time insisting that tonality was dead. Influenced by Sibelius' SYMPHONY No. 7 in its overall plan and brevity, the mystical subtitle “Oracles” was drawn from Bolcom's personal experience. And despite the dismissiveness of key centers at the time, the composer felt no better expression of the epiphany he'd felt than the resolution in C Major that occurs at the end of the symphony. Premiere: Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Milton Katims conducting, Seattle, WA, 1965