Nonesuch Records releases the debut recording of American composer John Adams' Scheherazade.2, a new dramatic symphony for violin and orchestra. The recording features David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony and virtuoso violinist Leila Josefowicz, for whom the piece was written. The piece was informed both by the Rimsky-Korsakov piece Scheherazade, from which it draws its name, as well as the Arabian Nights collection of folk stories.

John Adams is one of America's most admired and respected composers. A musician of enormous range and technical command, he has produced works, both operatic and symphonic, that stand out among all contemporary classical music for the depth of their expression, the brilliance of their sound, and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes. His music has played a decisive role in turning the tide of musical aesthetics away from the theoretical principles of European modernism toward a more expansive and expressive language, so characteristic of his New World surroundings.

‘His music is both lush and austere, grand and precise. To make an analogy to two poets whose work he has set to music, it's Walt Whitman on the one hand and Emily Dickinson on the other.’ – New York Times

Tracklisting:
1. I Tale of the Wise Young Woman-Pursuit by the True Believers   
2. II A Long Desire (Love Scene)   
3. III Scheherazade and the Men with Beards
4. IV Escape, Flight, Sanctuary