Forbidden Symphony

Edvard Grieg wrote one symphony, when he was twenty years old — which he withdrew just a few years later, forbidding its performance during his lifetime. An impressive work in its own right, although derivative of Mendelssohn and Schumann (which is probably why Grieg was unhappy with it), Grieg did arrange a couple of movements for piano duet. We'll hear the original symphonic version tonight with the Gothenberg Symphony under Neeme Järvi.

At the other end of the spectrum is Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4, which portrays Mankind's struggle against Fate (and the composer's own anguish over his homosexuality in the late nineteenth century). Leonard Slatkin leads the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in this stormy yet ultimately hopeful work.