I. Adagio – Allegro con brio

Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D. Completed in 1802 during one of the darkest periods of the composer’s life, as he was struggling to reconcile himself with his encroaching deafness. Under the circumstances, as Beethoven specialist Barry Cooper points out in his liner notes, a striking feature of the work is 'its thoroughly optimistic character throughout - it is almost as if he was using the symphony as a means of escape'.
Classics Today 10/10: Top ten CD of 2008; BBC Music Magazine: Choice of the Month; Klassik heute: outstanding; Gramophone: Editor's Choice: 'A triumphant final instalment in Vänskä's reclaimed Minnesota Beethoven cycle'.