Part 1
The BBC Scottish Orchestra (Augmented)
Leader, J. Mouland Begbie
Conducted by Sir Adrian Boult

Despite the fact that Brahms's four symphonies differ from each other both in emotional impulse and in various details of design, they are aesthetically of equal importance and belong to a symphonic style that may be described as romantic thought cast in a classical mould. The D major Symphony, for instance, is as lyrical and romantic in expression as any contemporary German music of the time.
If the tragic Symphony No. 1 in C minor was a great success on its first appearance, Symphony No. 2 in D, with its happier and more idyllic feelings, was an even greater one. Although conceived on just as big a scale as the C minor Symphony, the texture of the music is actually very much clearer, the melodies more cantabile in character, and the whole spirit of the music brighter - it has been called Brahms's 'Pastoral' Symphony.