Symphony No. 2

First Edition Records has just rereleased the Houston Symphony Orchestra's recordings of Tobias Picker's Symphony No. 2 and String Quartet No. 1, with Sergiu Commisiona conducting (First Edition FECD-0029).

Picker's second symphony, commissioned for the Houston Symphony and dedicated to Sergiu Comissiona, takes its name from a poem by Goethe on the power of music to restore an awareness of beauty to senses that have become dulled by stress and everyday cares. The string quartet, subtitled "New Memories," was commissioned by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival to celebrate the centennial of Georgia O'Keeffe's birth.