Hugo Alfvén was only 26 when he completed his Second Symphony in 1898. The bright, pastoral opening was inspired by a sailing trip in the Stockholm archipelago. But the idyll does not last: throughout the symphony, peaceful lyricism alternates with dramatic outbursts and grand, sweeping orchestral sonorities.

Here Alfvén looked to the European symphonic tradition, while at the same time his own colourful orchestral style emerges with great confidence. The symphony’s four movements form an increasingly dramatic arc. The first two movements are followed by a rapid scherzo, before the finale opens with a dark Preludio.

From this slow introduction emerges an expansive fugue, into which Alfvén also weaves the chorale ‘Jag går mot döden, var jag går’ (‘Wherever I go, I walk towards death’). This contrapuntal tour de force propels the symphony towards a magnificent conclusion. The work was premiered in 1899 by the Royal Swedish Orchestra under Wilhelm Stenhammar and marked Alfvén’s major breakthrough as a composer.