NDR Radio Philharmonic Hannover

Prokofiev’s lively Classical Symphony takes Haydn’s symphonies as its affectionate model, brilliantly updated to the early twentieth century, and includes some of the composer’s most high-spirited music.

Rachmaninov’s first concerto is an attractive, rhapsodic work, full of youthful vigour. The composer revised it in later life without sacrificing its essential freshness.

Brahms’ radiant Second Symphony was written while on holiday in the summer of 1877 and is predominantly warm, lyrical and tender, building to an explosion of joy in the finale.