To commemorate the 120th anniversary of Shostakovich's birth in 2026, the symphony score has been enlarged for easier reading. Symphony No. 2 was commissioned by the Moscow State Publishing House in 1927 to mark the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution. The final section features a chorus based on Bezymensky's poem. Written in avant-garde atonal style, it features a unique technique called ultra-counterpoint in 27 voices. Banned in the 1930s following criticism of modernism, it remained a ...