Symphoniker Hamburg / Guy Braunstein

When the Italian composer Luciano Berio (d. 2003) arranged Brahms’s Viola Sonata in F minor for orchestra, he focused on the sound itself: a full orchestra instead of a chamber ensemble. In the third concert of their »VielHarmonie« series, the Symphoniker Hamburg combine Berio’s arrangement with Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. The nickname »Pastoral« conjures up images of peaceful shepherds and babbling brooks. But Beethoven wasn’t aiming for onomatopoeic effects here; he was trying to depict »emotions rather than tone-painting«. The concert under the baton of Guy Braunstein opens with Mozart’s serene and sunny Symphony No. 33.