Boris Giltburg, Brussels Philharmonic & Kazushi Ono

Critics often accused Beethoven of writing sonatas that were too free, too irregular, and overly imaginative. His response? With his Piano Sonata No. 13, he demonstrated the sheer beauty that unfolds when a sonata is steeped in rich fantasy. Twenty years later, Beethoven's quest for freedom of form reached a pinnacle in his penultimate piano sonata, No. 110. By then almost completely deaf, he created a deeply emotional work inspired by vocal music, weaving in pure Baroque forms: the recitative, the lament, and the fugue. Brahms was a fervent admirer of Beethoven's later works. In his Second Symphony, a glorious piece that rolls through the concert hall like a musical dream, he puts vocal lyricism in the driver's seat, just like his predecessor. And despite a few characteristically dark Brahmsian undertones, its nickname 'Pastorale' is entirely fitting: the music flows by lightheartedly, dreaming of a promising spring day in the heart of nature.