Symphony no. 2 in C minor, op. 19

Dmitry Kabalevsky's Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 19, written in 1934, is the second of the four symphonies he wrote and the most performed and recorded of the cycle, probably owing to its sense of drama, bright orchestration and expressive straightforwardness, ranging from melancholy to jubilance. With a dramatic and agitated yet extroverted, lyrical and fairly positive outlook, like other dramatic Russian symphonies from the Stalinist era it was alleged to deal with the struggle of mankind to reform society within Soviet values.