Completed in early 1980, the Second Symphony was premiered on 1 May of that year in New York with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. Amongst the multitude of contrasting themes, the beginning of the Christmas carol “Silent Night” can be heard, almost as if in passing, like music from a distant memory or a recollection from childhood. In Penderecki’s homeland, Poland, this so-called “Christmas Symphony” is considered to be national music as it has an immediate and subjectively “romantic” tone which expresses the painful memory of the struggle, suffering and hope of the Polish people.