Bernstein conducts Brahms: Symphony No. 3 & Beethoven: Egmont Overture

Brahms never wrote a more colourful – or more personal – symphony than his Third. It's a grand, luminous Romantic landscape, swept by storms, bathed in sunset light and permeated with the composer's personal motto, encoded into the very notes: Frei aber froh, “Free but Happy”. Perfect, in other words, for a conductor with the qualities of Leonard Bernstein – an extrovert and a dreamer, with an ardent soul and a very special relationship with the Wiener Philharmoniker. In this 1981 performance, they strike sparks off each other – and bring a real sense of drama to Beethoven's volcanic Egmont overture.

Ensemble: 

Wiener Philharmoniker

Conductor: 

Leonard Bernstein