Grechaninov’s music is unrepentantly conservative and harks back to the compositions of previous generations, especially that of his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov. Both the First and Second Symphonies were written before the Russian Revolution of 1917. Their musical language is that of Borodin, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, with plentiful melodies, colourful and virtuoso orchestration, and vigorous rhythms inspired by Russian folk music and dances. They reveal Grechaninov as a distinctive minor master of Russian late romanticism.