‘You don’t know what it’s like always to hear that giant marching along behind me’, Brahms once wrote about Beethoven. Brahms took 21 years to complete his First Symphony, struggling under the weight of expectation as the worthy successor to Beethoven, renowned for his mastery of the symphony. Though this may have hindered Brahms’s speed, the result was worth waiting for – and the influence of Beethoven within this heroic work is undeniable. His Second Symphony was completed in just a few months and the overall mood is one of pastoral lyricism. This CD captures the impassioned live performances of both symphonies conducted by the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski.