Johannes Brahms Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 | Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra - Janowski

You don't need a Super Audio CD player to enjoy this music. Under the baton of Marek Janowski, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra captures the subtleties and complexities of Brahms Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 with two brilliant performances. Update your Brahms collection with this album.

In a Post-Beethoven period of time, symphonies released after Beethoven's great Symphony No. 9 never seemed to rise above the bar set by Beethoven. Music was met with tough and often harsh criticism. It took fifteen years for Brahms to discover his successful symphonic form after having a "rough" time with his Symphony No. 1. Brahms Symphony No. 2 was received very well at its premiere in Vienna on December 30, 1877. Six years later, his Symphony No. 3 premiered in Vienna on December 2. You'll notice when listening to these symphonies that their structures and forms reside more closely to the classical period style, while at the same time Wagner, Mahler, and Bruckner were composing radical and romantic symphonies. It's interesting to see how a great composer like Brahms chooses to compose works in a transitional period of music - stuck between classical and romantic.