I. Allegro ma non troppo

Schnittke composed his Symphony No.0 (1956-57) while still a student at the Moscow Concervatory, and it was only perfomed once during his lifetime, by the conservatory orchestra and with Dmitri Shostakovich in the audience. The influence of Shostakovich is audible, but also that of Myaskovsky and the great Russian Romantics, as well as Paul Hindemith and Carl Orff. Even so, the work contains not only some very mature writing by such a young composer (23 years old) but also an example of a highly original and indivdual style.
Klassik Heute: outstanding.