Jungho Kim, conductor Stravinsky: Four Norwegian Moods Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73 In 1941, Stravinky composed music for a film about the Nazi invasion in Norway. He borrowed the themes for this from Norwegian folk songs from a collection that his wife had bought in a second-hand bookstore in Los Angeles. However, "Hollywood" refused the music in the form Stravinsky had composed and Stravinsky did not want to make concessions. He then edited the material into an orchestra suite. The cheery and almost pastoral mood of the Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 often invites comparisons with Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. The first performance, on December 30, 1877, was entrusted to the respected Hans Richter and the Vienna Philharmonic. The overwhelmingly positive reception greatly cheered Brahms and marked the beginning of his reputation as a promising symphonist. Of the four symphonies he was to write, it was his personal favorite.