Beethoven's 'Pastoral' Symphony

Take a stroll along country byways with Beethoven and his ‘Pastoral’ Symphony.

‘How happy I am to be able to walk among the shrubs, the trees, the woods, the grass and the rocks!’ Beethoven once exclaimed. His Sixth Symphony – complete with bird calls, flowing water and merry-making country folk – is a wonderfully evocative portrait of pastoral life in the early-19th century, and a rare example of the great German composer penning deliberately descriptive music.

We hear it alongside two works with a Parisian accent. Written during a stint in the French capital, Mozart’s rarely performed Concerto for Flute and Harp was commissioned by a flute-playing aristocrat and his harpist daughter. It is suffused with all the elegance and grace that you would expect from Mozart, while also displaying wonderful resourcefulness in his handling of such an unusual solo pairing.

Premiered at the Paris Opera nearly 150 years later, Pulcinella looks both forwards and backwards. Igor Stravinsky’s ballet is built from a patchwork of re-discovered scores by long-forgotten composers. Yet his irreverent, staggeringly original orchestrations – heard here in a single concert suite – would point the way to a ‘neo-Classical’ future, influencing a whole generation of composers.