LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6 "Pastorale". With Knecht : Le Portrait musical de la Nature ou Grande Simphonie Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

Two symphonies ‘on the theme of nature’! Valid though this expression is, it nevertheless calls for quotation marks: far from being a prefiguration of the famous Pastoral, the Symphonie ‘Portrait musical de la nature’ represented a highly convincing attempt by its composer to extricate himself from programme music, 23 years before Beethoven's masterpiece! It is exciting to hear these two works recorded together for the first time by a period-instrument orchestra directed by its concertmaster, Bernhard Forck.