I hadn't heard Beethoven's 2nd Symphony for years, and I had forgotten how wonderful it is, with that massive climax at the end of the first movement which sort of makes you think the music is all over. This is a splendid recording of that 1802 piece, a gateway to much of Beethoven's later symphonic writing. Preceded on this live recording from March 2020 (just before lockdown) by Brett Dean’s Testament, "a contemporary orchestral piece which engages with Beethoven’s music, his thoughts and his emotional state." Dean (b. 1961) was inspired by Beethoven's "Heiligenstadt Testament", his last will and testament, written comparatively early in life, on learning of the irreversibility of his worsening hearing ailments. He suggests in his music "...the quietly feverish sound of Ludwig’s imagined quill writing manically on leaves of parchment paper". Bayerisches Staatsorchester, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. CD released July 2022.

In commemoration of the death of Saint-Saëns in 1921, a recording of some of his lesser known (and also one very well known) glorious symphonic poems. As well as the oft performed Danse macabre, Op. 40, we had the La jeunesse d'Hercule, Op. 50, Le Rouet d'Omphale, Op. 31, Phaéton, Op. 39, and the wonderful Samson et Dalila, Op. 47: Bacchanale. I was unfamiliar with all of these apart from the "Dance of Death", and they were a lovely discovery. Sinfonieorchester Basel, conducted by Ivor Bolton. CD released June 2023.